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THE LIBRARY 

OF 

THE UNIVERSITY 

OF CALIFORNIA 

LOS ANGELES 



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LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES 



LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES 



V- 



0; A 



BY THE REV. 



G. S. STREATFEILD, M.A. 

VICAR OF STREATHAM COMMON ; 
LATE VICAR OF HOLY TRINITY, LOUTH, LINCOLNSHIRE 



" Language adheres to the soil, when the lips which spake are resolved in dust." 

Sir F. Pai.grave 




ItARBo'r SCIENTl/Eg 



?^ARB'3R VIT/E.-"» 



LONDON 

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 

1884 



{Tlie rights o/franxltitiim and of reJ>roihutio}i are reserved.^ 



TlA 



TO 

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS 

ALEXANDRA, 

PRINCESS OF WALES, 

THIS BOOK. IS INSCRIBED 

BY HKR LOYAL AND GRATEFUL SERVANT 

THE AUTHOR. 



49.'i476 



A thousand years have nursed the changeful mood 

Of England's race,— so long have good and ill 

P^ought the grim battle, as they fight it still, — 

Since from the North,— a daring brotherhood, — 

They swarmed, and knew not, when, mid fire and blood, 

They made their English homes, or took their fill 

Of English spoil, — they rudely wrought His will 

Who sits for aye above the water-flood. 

Death's grip is on the restless arm that clove 

Our land in twain ; no more the Raven's flight 

Darkens our sky ; and now the gentle Dove 

Speeds o'er the wave, to nestle in the might 

Of English hearts, and whisper of the love 

That views afar time's eventide of light 



preface; 



" I DO not pretend that my books can teach truth. All 
I hope for is that they may be an occasion to inquisitive 
men of discovering truth." Although it was of a subject 
infinitely higher than that of which the following pages 
treat, that Bishop Berkeley wrote such words, yet they 
exactly express the sentiment with which this book 
is submitted to the public. 

It may be well to state that the present volume is 
the development of three parochial lectures given in 
Louth (Lincolnshire) during the years 1877-78, and I 
would venture to say that the constant calls and de- 
mands of a busy parish may help to explain, though 
not to excuse, much that may be open to criticism. 

Any one who attempts to deal with the derivation 
of place-names must do so with the full expectation of 
calling forth much controversy. As, in pursuing my 
subject, I have often had to change my opinions, so I 
am fully prepared, in sending them before the tribunal 



vm PREFACE. 

of the public, to see many cherished conclusions dis- 
proved, and my own judgment in many cases reversed. 

Far abler writers have pointed out the uncertainty 
that too often hangs over the original meaning of a 
local name, even when every effort has been made to 
trace it, and it is impossible to doubt that many of the 
derivations given in this volume will be charged with 
rashness and credulity. 

We may perhaps admit that, in dealing with such 
a subject, it is often by almost exhausting the wrong 
that the right is gained. If, then, the following pages 
do nothing more than conduce to the exhaustion of 
error, they place the right one step nearer to attainment. 

The subject of place-names possesses interest for 
comparatively few, and it is most unlikely that the 
greater part of this book, entering, as it necessarily does, 
into tedious details and technicalities, will find many 
readers. It is however hoped that the earlier chapters, 
as well as the concluding one, may not be without 
attraction for all who are interested in the history of the 
county. If, moreover, some of the names here discussed 
are found to throw a side-light, however dim, upon the 
life and associations of a past that cannot be more than 
faintly realized, it will be confessed that the studies, of 
which the result is here given, have not been altogether 
fruitless. 



PREFACE. IX 

Whilst heartily wishing that the subject had fallen 
into more competent hands, I can only hope that I may 
have led the way^ to a more complete and correct 
elucidation of at least one part of the county nomencla- 
ture than the present attempt can pretend to be. 

The Glossary appended to this volume is the result 
of a careful examination and comparison of many works, 
but is chiefly indebted to the following, viz. : — Cleasby 
and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, Professor Skeat's 
Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Dr. 
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language, the 
Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect, by the Rev. J. C. 
Atkinson, Vicar of Danby, and Stratmann's Dictionary 
of Old English. 

I would take this opportunity of returning my 
warmest thanks for most courteous and ready help from 
Professor Worsaae of Copenhagen, and to Professor 
Rygh of Christiania. I would also acknowledge, with 
much gratitude, the unfailing sympathy and advice of 
my friend, the Rev. M. G. Watkins, Rector of Barnoldby- 
le-Beck. 

Whitby, August, 1883. 

' This ought to be said with some reserve, inasmuch as a short, but 
interesting paper on this very subject was read by the Precentor of Lincoln 
at the annual meeting of the Lincoln Architectural Society, and has been 
printed in the Report for 18S2. The Danish element in the topography 
and language of Lincolnshire is also touched upon in Sir Charles Ander- 
son's Lincoln Pocket Guide. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Danish Occupation ... ... ... i 

II. Connecting Links ... ... ... 25 

III. The Dane and his English Home ... ... 41 

IV. Records of Mythology ... ... ... 57 

V. Heroes and Nationalities ... ... ... 83 

VI. Records of Settlement — Part I. ... 99 

VII. Records of Settlement — Part II. ... ... 123 

VIII. Records OF Settlement — Part III. ... .139 

IX. Records of Nature — Land ... ... ... 160 

X. Records of Nature — Water ... ... 188 

XI. Records of Animal and Vegetable Life ... 209 

XII. Lost Landmarks ... ... ... ... 236 

XIII. The Language of Lincolnshire ... ... 258 

Appendix I. Additional Names ... ... 279 

„ II. Thong Caistor and Torksey ... 292 

„ III. Personal Names in Lincolnshire 298 

Glossary ... ... ... ... ... ... 314 



ABBREVIATIONS. 



Ann. Isl. = Annales Islandici. 

Brogden = Provincial Words and Expressions current in Lincoln- 
shire. J. Ellett Brogden, 1866. 

CI. Gl. = Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect, by Rev. J. C. Atkinson, 
Vicar of Danby. 

CI. and Vigf. = Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dic- 
tionary. 

Cod. Dip. JEv. Sax. = Codex Diplomaticus ^vi Saxonici. Kemble. 

Cr. D. = Craven Dialect. 

Dip. Angl. JEv. Sax. = Diplomatarium Anglicum ^vi Saxonici. 
B. Thorpe. 

Dugdale, Mon. Angl. = Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum. 

Ferg., E.S. = English Surnames. R. Ferguson. 

Grimm's Teut. Myth. (Stallybrass) = Grimm's Teutonic My- 
thology, translated by Stallybrass. 

Halliwell = Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial 
Words. 

Hold. Gl. = Holderness Glossary. English Dialect Society. 

Jam. = Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, John 
Jamieson, D.D. New Edition, 1877. 

Landn. = Landndmabok. 

L.C.D. = Liber Census Daniae ; Kong Valdemar den Andens 
(i 202-1 241), Jordebog. 

M. and C. Gl. = Glossary of the Manley and Corringham Dialect. 
E. Peacock. 

Madsen, SJ£e1. Stedn. = Sjselandske Stednavne. Emil Madsen. 
Archceological Journal of Scandinavia, 1863. 



XIV ABBREVIATIONS. 

Molbech = Dansk Dialekt Lexicon. C. Molbech, 1841. 
Prompt. Parv. = Promptorium Parvulorum sive Clericorum, 1540. 
Stratmann = Stratmann's Dictionary of the Old English Language. 
St. S. = Sturlunga Saga. 
C.I. = Calendarium Inquisitionum post mortem sive Escastarum. 

(Henry III., Edward I. and II.) 
C.R.C. = Calendarium Rotulorum Chartarum ad inciuisitionem 

ad quod damnum, 1 307-1460. 
C.T.T. = Catalogus Tenentium Terras per Singulas Hundredas 

in Comitatu Line. (Henry I.) 
D.B. = Domesday Book. 
Hundr. R. = Hundred Rolls ; Rotuli Hundredorum. (Henry III., 

Edward I.) 
Inqu. Non. or I.N. = Inquisitiones Nonarum. (14 and 15 

Edward III.) 
PI. A. = Placitorum Abbreviatio. (Richard I., John, etc.) 
P.R. = Patent Rolls ; Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium. (3 John, 

23 Edward IV.) 
R.C. = Rotuh Chartarum, 1 199-12 16. 
T.E. = Taxatio Ecclesiastica Anglite et Wallias, 1291. 
T.N. = Testa de Nevill. (Henry III., Edward I.) 
A.S. = Anglo Saxon. O.N. = Old Norse. Su.G. = Suio- 

Gothicum. Dan. = Danish. O.Dan. = Old Danish. Dan. 

D. = Danish Dialect. Sw. = Swedish. Sw. D. = Swedish 

Dialect. Norw. = Norwegian. Ger. = German. O.H.G. = 

Old High German. Eng. = English. O.E. = Old English. 

M.E. = Middle English. N.E. = North England. Pron. = 

Pronounced. 
(?) A note of interrogation placed after a local name signifies that 

the writer has not ascertained the earlier forms of the name. 



LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 

" In there stej^ped a stately Raven 

Not the least obeisance made he ; 

Ghastly, grim, and ancient Raven, wandering from the Nightly shore. 
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Tlutonian shore.' 

The Kavcn, E. A. Poi:. 

It may be that education and the love of travel have, 
to some extent, weakened the popular misconception 
that to live in Lincolnshire means little short of flounder- 
ing in a swamp and shivering with ague ; yet it is hardly 
rash to say that the county, as a whole, excites less 
interest than any other in the mind of an average 
Endishman. Those who know its broad acres best feel 
that scant justice is done to it by strangers, who have 
never taken the trouble to see it for themselves. The 
day will doubtless come, when the general public will be 
awakened to the fact that Lincolnshire enjoys one of 
the healthiest climates in the kingdom ; that, in a drive 
across the wolds, a landscape meets the eye surpassing 
in beauty the scenes familiar to the South-countryman 



2 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES, 

amid the Hampshire Downs ; that the geology of the 
county is full of interest, from the oolite, ironstone, and 
red chalk of the hills, to the submerged forests of the 
coast ; whilst the Church architecture vies with that of 
any county in Great Britain.^ 

Meanwhile, we pity the ignorance of the outside world, 
and confess that the quaint and sagacious Fuller was 
before his time in his estimate of this portion of the 
realm. " As God " (so runs his verdict) " hath, to use 
the apostle's phrase, tempered the body together, not 
making all eye or all ear, but assigning each member 
the proper office thereof, so the same Providence hath 
so wisely blended the benefits of this county, that, take 
collective Lincolnshire, and it is defective in nothing." ^ 

It is not, however, the object of these chapters to con- 
firm this flattering view ; no such wide and ambitious 
aim will be discovered in the following pages. One par- 
ticular feature, to the exclusion of others, will occupy 
our attention ; — a feature familiar enough to all in its 
general aspect,^ but hitherto not dealt with in detail. 

The visitor to Lincolnshire, when he leav^es the flat 

' " Here the complaint of the prophet " (Hagg. 1.4) " hath no place ; no 
county affording worse houses or better churches." — Fuller's Worthies of 
P'ngland, 1st edit., 1662, part 2, p. 151. 

" Ibid., p. 144. As if to justify, and more than justify, such an 
encomium, the year before these words were put before the public (the first 
edition was published in 1662, after the author's death), it is recorded that 
"at Spalding and Bourne, and several other places in Lincolnshire, it 
rayn'd great quantities of wheat." This phenomenon, which took place 
A]-iril 26, 1661, is included among the many wonders of Annus Mirabilis, 
1O60. (See Diaries and Letters of Philip Henry, 1S82, p. 104.) 

* See Taylor's Words and Places, ch. viii. ; and Worsaae's Danes and 
Northmen, sect. vii. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 3' 

country that stretches from Huntingdon to Firsby, finds 
himself surrounded with records of Danish occupation, 
more numerous probably than in any other district of 
England, and it is the special aim of these pages to 
trace the records that the Norsemen have left in the 
place-names of the county. 

The Scandinavian race is represented by three great 
'divisions, — the Dane, the Norwegian, and the Swede. 
Of these, the last took little part in the marauding 
expeditions that swept every coast of Western and 
Southern Europe, from the north of Scotland to the Ba}^ 
of Naples and the Levant, during the ninth, tenth, and 
eleventh centuries.^ But, while the Swede found vent 
for the spirit of enterprise beyond the Baltic in the 
region of the East, the Dane and Norwegian vied with 
one another in harassing and plundering every shore 
that lay to the west of their own country. Heartrend- 
ing are the tales told of these incursions. Although 
generous in friendship, the Norseman was pitiless and 
even treacherous in war. Untaught as yet by the word, 
luntamed as yet by the yoke of Christ, he believed that 
the way to lay up treasure in heaven, as well as on earth, 
was to kill, to capture, to sack, to burn. " Capable of 
every crime but cowardice," honouring a life of plunder 
above that of honest industry, believing that death in 
battle was a certain passport to Valhalla, the sworn 
opponents of Christianity, swayed by strong appetites, 
possessed of extraordinary physical strength, and a con- 
stitution hardened by exposure to a bracing climate, 

' Worsaac's Danes and Northmen, Introd. p. xiii., xiv. 



4 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

these Northern vikings proved themselves terrible foes 
wherever they went, and left 

" Their name to other times, 
Link'd with one virtue and a thousand crimes." 

Many of the stories told of the Norseman's cruelty may 
be far from true, yet it cannot for a moment be doubted 
that his raids were marked by every kind of excess. 
Towns and villages were plundered, the inhabitants 
massacred, their homes fired ; babes were tossed upon 
the spear,^ women were carried off to shame or captivity. 
Terrible too was the havoc they made in religious 
houses and churches ; and there may be church doors 
in England at the present day, which, beneath some 
rusty nail, preserve a remnant of dry and shrivelled 
skin, as a witness to the viking's profanity, and the 
vengeance that was wreaked upon him when seized in 
the act of sacrilege.^ It may be taken for granted that 

* This, in spite of the traditional belief in tlie ferocity of the vikings, 
was probably not a common practice. The story of Olaf Barnakill has been 
so often quoted as to colour the general character of the Norseman. It is 
upon the authority of the Landnamabolc that we learn how " Barnakill " was 
given to Olaf as a soubriquet, because he protested against the practice of 
tossing infants upon the spear-point. Sir G. W. Dasent jooints out that 
"Barnakill" may be a late corruption of " Bairncarle " [i.e. the man with 
many bairns) ; see Burnt Njal, vol. ii. pp. 353, 354. He further maintains that 
these stories of atrocious and unnecessary cruelty were set afloat after the 
change of faith amongst the Northmen, with the purpose of heaping disgrace 
upon paganism. The fact that Frithiof was called Helthiof, when guilty of 
this barbarity, helps to jDrove that the practice was regarded with aversion 
by the majority of Norsemen. 

- The four churches with which such traditions are distinctly connected 
are Rochester Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the churches of Had- 
stock and Copford, in Essex. In the case of Hadstock, the last fragments 
of skin did not disappear until 1846 ; and in that of Copford, not until 1843. 
(See Archccologkal yoitnial, vol. v. p. 185; vol. x. p. 167.) 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 5 

the life of the viking-^ while it developed the worst 
qualities of the Scandinavian character, would check its 
nobler features, save that spirit of enterprise and darinLf 
which never rose higher than in these sons of the North. 
It is partly, doubtless, in virtue of this unrivalled 
hardihood that the Norseman's life possesses a romantic 
interest, which, in some degree, extends itself to the 
seas he haunted, and to the very places he conquered 
to call after his own name. And where w'as the sea- 
board of Western Europe that these insatiable pirates 
did not visit ? Here, there, everywhere, often in the 
most unexpected quarters and out-of-the-way corners, 
they have left their record in the names they gave, — 
names which may still conjure up to the eye of fancy 
those black fleets, sometimes large, sometimes small, 
always formidable, that threaded their way through 
every sea and descended upon every coast, to leave their 
mark in blood and fire and famine. 

The province to which our thoughts are now directed 
was not only visited, but colonized, by these Northmen ; 
and the great preponderance of Danish over Anglian 
place-names in many large portions of the county may 
serve to show that, in these parts at least, the English- 
man was no match for the Dane. 

Although there must have been Danes in England 
at a very early period, and vikings had frequented our 
coasts long before Ethelred ascended the throne in 866, 
it was not until his reign that the full strength of this 
foe was felt. It was in the very year of Ethelred's 
accession that a Danish armament, under the notorious 



6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

leaders Hubba and Hingvar, landed in East Anglia. 
After wintering there, the invaders marched through 
Lincolnshire, crossed the H umber, and advanced upon 
York. Northumbria, or at least the southern portion of 
it, submitted almost without a blow, and Mercia trembled 
for its safety. The peace of Nottingham, concluded in 
S68 between Ethelred and the Danes, gave the new- 
comers an opportunity, which they were quick to seize, 
of subjugating East Anglia. Hardly had Guthrum the 
Dane taken his seat upon the throne of the martyred 
Edmund, than Mercia, shrinking from the contest, which 
appeared inevitable, acknowledged the overlordship of 
the Danes, and placed itself under tribute. This occurred 
in 870. In the following year Ethelred died, to be suc- 
ceeded by his younger brother, Alfred. The heroic 
struggles of the new king to maintain his ground and 
preserve his crown ended in the peace of Wedmore, in 
878. By the terms of this treaty the great road running 
from London to Chester, and known as the Watling 
Street, became the frontier line between Danelagh and 
the kingdom of England.^ 

If then we ask, at what period Lincolnshire and the 
adjacent counties were chiefly colonized by the Danes, 
probability points to the years immediately preceding 

* J. R. Green, Short History of the Engh.sli People, pp. 45, 46. The 
exact line which separated Danelagh from England started from the Thames, 
and after tracing the river Lea to its source, passed to Bedford. Thence it 
kept to the river Ouse until it reached Watling Street, which then became 
the boundary to Chester. The treaty of Wedmore gave the Northmen 
ample opportunities for settlement. Danelagh was at length reduced to sub- 
mission, but not until the middle of the tenth century, and by that time most 
likely the j^resent nomenclature of the county was more or less complete. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 7 

and following the treaty of Wedmore ; nor can wc be far 
Avrong in concluding that, during the latter half of the 
ninth century, the north and west of Lincolnshire assumed 
the character rather of a Danish province than of an 
English shire. 

It was then that those scenes were repeated w-hich 
had been so common four hundred years earlier, when 
the tribes of Germany descended upon the eastern 
coasts of Britain, rendered almost defenceless by the 
withdrawal of the Roman legions.^ Now, however, it 
was the turn for the Anglo-Saxon race to suffer ; and 
as the Briton had retired before the German, so now the 
Englishman made way for the Dane.-^ 

No county map bears clearer traces of Norse occu- 
pation than that of Lincolnshire. And this we might 
well expect, for no other portion of England afforded 
such facilities to these sea-kings for conquest and for 
settlement. Riding across the German Ocean on what 
they were wont to call their sea-horses, they found, in the 
Humber mouth, an open gate to some of the richest 
pastures in England. History tells of the good use 
they made of their opportunities. But even were the 
voice of history silent, if every documentary record were 
lost, if every local tradition were forgotten, a comparison 



* For a picturesque description of the Saxon raids of the fourlh and fiftlr 
centuries, see Green's Making of England, Introd., pp. 15-19 ; see also 
Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 12. 

- Mr. Freeman gives three jjeriods of Danish contact with and influence 
upon England: ist period, that of plunder, 789-855; 2nd period, that of 
settlement, 855-897 ; 3rd period, that of political conquest, 980-1016 
(Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 12 and 44-46). 



8 LI^XOLNSIIIRE AND THE DANES. 

between the map of Lincolnshire and that of Denmark 
would prove that one had been colonized from the other, 
or, at least, that the same race had, to a great extent, 
peopled both countries alike. If, in a state of uncon- 
sciousness, we could travel to Denmark, and awake to 
find ourselves amongst such names as Abye, Strobye, 
Dalbye, Kirkbye, Carlebye, Orbye, Ulseby, Holbek, and 
Tofte, we should certainly be prepared to look around 
without the sense of being any great distance from home. 
Such names, with many others quite as familiar in form 
and sound, may be read upon an ordinary map of Den- 
mark, and have, for more than a thousand years, formed 
a connecting link of deep interest between the two coun- 
tries, now so closely and happily united in the person of 
Alexandra, Princess of England and of Denmark. 

It is impossible at this distance of time to trace, with 
any clearness, the course that the great Danish immi- 
gration took ; yet an examination of the map is not 
without results that throw some light upon this point, 
and more especially, perhaps, in regard to the county 
now under consideration. 

So far, then, as we can judge from the map, there 
appear to have been three main streams of these colonists 
into Lincolnshire, which, for convenience' sake, we may 
designate as the Grimsby, Trent, and Alford streams. 

In the first place, there can be no doubt that they 
landed in large numbers in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of Grimsby,^ and spread in every direction, but 

' Certainly as far south as Tctney Haven, which, tradition tells us, was 
one of the favourite landing-places of the Dane. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 9 

especially to the west and south-west. Meeting this 
horde, as it pushed its way westward from Grimsby, 
another wave of Danish colonists most probably ad- 
vanced eastward fi-om the neighbourhood of Burton 
Stather ^ at the Trent mouth. Where these two streams 
of immigrants met, it may be impossible to say ; possibly 
in the vicinity of Glanford Brigg or Caistor, which, 
though neither place bears a Danish name, may be 
regarded as the centres of one of the most strongly 
marked Danish districts in the kingdom. 

Turning to what has been characterized as the 
Alford stream, we come to that particular area which, 
if we may judge from the place-names, must at one 
time have been the most exclusively Danish portion of 
Lincolnshire, if not of England,^ This district stretches 
from the coast in the neighbourhood of Alford over the 
wolds as far as Horncastle, and the conclusion appears 
to be irresistible that the smooth sandy shore between 
Theddlethorpe and Skegness was a favourite landing- 
place for the Danish fleets. In Leland's time, tradition 
told of a fair commodious haven that once existed 
at Skegness ; '^ it may have been, therefore, at that 
particular point of the coast, rather than any other, that 
the invaders landed ^ to march north and west, and turn 

* The name Stather may itself record the fact that this point was used 
with great frequency as a landing-place by the Danes (cf. Chapter x.)- 

- Words and Places, 5th edit., p. iii. 

^ Leland's Itinerary, vol. vii. p. 142. 

■* Nothing can be advanced with anything like certainty, owing to the 
great changes which the encroachments of the sea have made upon the coast 
since the ninth century. There may have been many commodious havens 
besides that of Skegness. Even so late as Leland's day there appears to 



lO LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

the Alford and Spilsby neighbourhood into a purely- 
Danish settlement. Certain it is that we can point to 
no other part of Lincolnshire, where Danish names 
outnumber the English in so large a proportion. Let 
the eye run over a map from Theddlethorpe, on the 
coast, through Withern, Ruckland, Scamblesby, Thim- 
bleby, Coningsby, Revesby, Firsby, to Skegness, and it 
will be found that names, other than Danish, in this 
large area may be almost counted on the fingers. 

The cause of this crowded assemblage of Scandi- 
navian names in this particular portion of the county is 
not far to seek. The Fens opposed a formidable barrier 
to the advance of the foreigner. Reference to the map 
will show at once how the colonists skirted the fen from 
Firsby round by Coningsby, Digby, Asgarby, Hacconby 
to Stamford. Let a line be drawn through these places, 
and it will be seen that, south and east of this limit, 
names of Danish origin are comparatively scarce. Here 
and there, it is true, within the area once known as the 
Fens, we come across a name undoubtedly Danish, but 
for the most part the nomenclature is cast in an English 
mould ; Sibsey, Littleworth, and Benington are more 
characteristic of this district than Skirbeck, Brothertoft, 
and Butterwick, The map then makes it clear that 
the tide of Danish conquest and annexation swept no 
further than the frontier of the fen, which formed the 
best defence of the sturdy Gyrwas,^ who, in spite of ague 

have been a haven at Huttoft Marsh. "At Iluttoft niarsch cum shippes 
yn from divers places and discharge." (Leland's Itinerar)-, vol. vii. p. 38, 
2nd edit., 1744.) 

' So the tribe of Engles who colonized the Ecus called themselves. (See 
J. R. Green's Making of England, p. 56.) 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 11 

and low fever, maintained themselves on such island 
homes as Sibsey, Stickney, and Fulnc}-. 

In addition to the very strongly marked Danish 
districts already mentioned, there is a small tract of 
country situated between the city of Lincoln and the 
river Trent, which, if we may trust its nomenclature, 
must have been almost exclusively occupied by the 
Danes. Skellingthorpe, Saxilby, Kettlethorpe, Brattleby, 
Ingoldb}-, Thorpe-in-the-Fallows, may be taken as the 
key-names of this district, which extends from the Trent- 
side at Torksey to the walls of Lincoln. The essentially 
Danish character of this area may be explained, partly 
by the fact that Lincoln was one of the five boroughs,^ 
which formed so marked a feature of the Danelagh, 
partly also by the former importance of Torksey,^ which, 
in the days before the Conquest, was the most flourish- 
ing town on the Trent between Nottingham and the 
H umber. 

These then would appear to have been the principal 
centres of Danish colonization. Either by driving out 
those already in possession, or by occupying hitherto 

' The five boroughs were Stamford, Lincohi, Leicester, Nottingham, 
and Derby. To these were subsequently added York and Chester. " The 
live boroughs, a rude confederacy which had taken the place of the older 
Mercian kingdom. Derby represented the original Mercia on the Upper 
Trent ; Lincoln, the Lindiswaras ; Leicester, the Mitldle English ; Stam- 
ford, the province of the Gyrwas ; Nottingham, proliably that of the 
Southumbrians. Each of these five boroughs seems to have been ruled by 
its earl with his separate 'host.' Within each, twelve lawmen administered 
Danish law, while a Common Justice Court existed for the whole con- 
federacy." (J. R. Green, History of the English People, vol. i. p. 82.) 

- The commercial importance of Torksey was doubtless closely con- 
nected with its proximity to Lincoln. (On the former importance of Torksey, 
and its probable connection with the Danish settlers, see Appendix 11.) 



12 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

unclaimed lands, the Dane found himself, in these par- 
ticular districts, almost alone, and altogether supreme. 
Meanwhile, over a great portion of the county, we find 
English and Danish names thoroughly mingled, so that 
it is hard to say whether the English or the Danish 
element predominates. 

In one section only of the county are Norse names 
comparatively rare, viz. the Fen district, already referred 
to. To this part of Lincolnshire we may now turn again 
for a moment, and take notice of two features that bear 
upon our subject. In the first place, although it is, 
speaking generally, true that the nomenclature of the 
Fens is English, an exception must be made in regard to 
a small portion of the sea-coast in the neighbourhood of 
Boston. Judging from place-names, we should conclude 
that the Norsemen colonized the sea and river line 
extending from Boston to Butterwick, and possibly some 
miles further to the north. Here we have undoubtedly 
Danish names attached to the villages of Skirbeck, 
Fishtoft, and Butterwick,^ whilst the names also that 
cling to various parts of these parishes suggest that the 
Danish element in their population was at one time 
large. Thus Hiptoft, Catchgarth, Coppledike, Semprin- 
garth, Caythorpe, Tungatestone, Crane-End,^ Altoft- 

' The name of Freiston may be English or Danish, but the village of 
Freiston was less important than Butterwick, until made by Guy de Credon 
the seat of his barony. 

* Crane is a corruption of Skreyng, which (though it may not be possible 
to give a derivation) has a strongly Scandinavian appearance. It may be 
Old Norse skbr, edge — skara, to jut out ; and eng, a meadow. This 
derivation just suits the character of the ground, bordering as it does on 
the sea. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 1 3 

End, and Scalp/ bear witness, in one way or another, 
to the presence of the Norseman. And if we press still 
further to the north from Buttervvick, through Leake ^ 
and Wrangle, we are reminded of the same nationality 
by such names as Fenthorpe, Ivory,'' Finkle Street,^ and 
H ungate. 

The other feature, which appears worth notice in 
connection with our subject, is that among the Danish 
names scattered here and there over the Fens, the two 
suffixes most distinctive of Danish influence arc con- 
spicuous by their absence. Among the village names 
of this area, it is very doubtful whether a genuine in- 
stance of hy or thorpe^ could be produced. These 
characteristic signs of Danish occupation come no 
further south than Firsby, Hagnaby, Revesby ; no fur- 
ther east than Dowsby, Dunsby, Laythorpe, Hacconby, 
Thurlby, and Wilsthorpe. 

Here and there, in the country that lies between 
Firsby and Peterborough, we come across a -toft, a -beck, 
or a -holme, to prove that the Danish influence was not 
unfelt, nor the race unrepresented, in the south-east of 

* The origin of this term is doubtful, but it is most likely Scandinavian. 
" Leake is not unlikely a Norse name. See Chapter x. 

^ Ivar is a purely Norse name. Ivory is a natural corruption of Ivar- 
eye, Ivar's Island. Danish writers generally write Ivar for Ingvar. (See 
B. Thorpe, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, note, vol. ii. p. 60.) 

* Finkle Street ; Danish Vinkel, Anglo-Saxon 'wiiicd, a corner, angle. 
(See Ferguson, Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland ; and Madsen, 
Sjoel. Stedn. p. 254.) 

^ By, thorpe, and toft, but especially the first two, are the principal 
suffixes denoting permanent settlement. Thorpe is by no means exclusively 
Norse ; but, though an English word, it is only found with frequency where 
Norsemen settled. 



14 LI^XOLNSIIlRE AND THE DANES. 

Lincolnshire ; but not even on the coast and river line 
near Boston, to which reference has been made, is there 
a by or thorpe} If we may venture upon an inference 
from this peculiarity, it is that the Norsemen who settled 
at Brothertoft, Pinchbeck, Wigtoft,^ and in other parts 
of the fen, did so at a later period, and in a more 
peaceable fashion than had been the case in the north 
and west of the county. Indeed, that some few Danes, 
in the course of time, should have found their way to 
the strips and plots of rich alluvial soil that rose from 
the surrounding swamp, seems perfectly natural, when 
we bear in mind that, at the peace of Wedmore, the 
whole of Lincolnshire, together with East Anglia, fell to 
the lot of Denmark. 

Thus it has come to pass (though the phenomenon is 
perhaps too obvious to need pointing out), that, side 
by side in the same county, lie two districts in which 
the conditions of nomenclature are exactly reversed. 
In the Spilsby neighbourhood we meet with a multitude 
of hys and thorpcs with an occasional termination of 
English origin. In the adjacent fen lands, the names 
that indicate the presence of the Dane are the exception, 
those denoting English occupation are the rule. 

Much has been said, and doubtless with truth, about 
the violence and bloodshed which attended the Danish 
settlement. That there was a great disruption of society, 

^ Unless we except Fenthorpe, already referred to. 

- It is worthy of note that Wigtoft, in which name the suffix indicates 
permanent occupation, was in former days, to all intents and purposes, 
situated upon the sea-coast, as the ancient form of the name (Wiketoft) 
proves. 



THE DANISH OCCUrATION. 1 5 

together with an extensive displacement of landowners, 
is beyond dispute ; but we are justified in believing that, 
save in a few districts of limited area, the Danish 
conquest was not marked by an extirpation of the old 
race,^ such as characterized the English conquest some 
centuries earlier.^ 

Perhaps the one fact that might seem to favour the 
view of wholesale slaughter and virtual extermination 
of the earlier inhabitants is that slavery had ceased to 
exist in Lincolnshire at the time of the Norman Con- 
quest. This institution, in spite of the combined efforts 
of legislature and Church, prevailed largely and in- 
creasingly in the south and west of England during 
the later Saxon period. In the northern counties, 
meanwhile, and in those east of Watling Street, — in 
other words, in Danelagh, — slaves were few, Yorkshire 
and Lincolnshire enjoying the noble distinction of 
possessing none at the date of the Domesday Survey.^ 

' Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vol. i. p. 19S. 

- This extirpation of Celt by German does not necessarily involve 
wholesale slaughter. " Slaughter fio doubt there was on the battle-field or 
in towns like Anderida, whose long defence woke wrath in their besiegers. 
But for the most part the Britons cannot have been slaughtered ; they 
were simply defeated and drew back." (J. R. Green, Making of England, 
pp. 135, 136.) 

^ In the eleven counties nortli and east of Watling Street the proportion 
of slaves to the whole population was less than three and a half per cent. 
In the five south-western counties it was between sixteen and seventeen. 
In Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, 
Wiltshire, and Essex there were 13,698 slaves, who formed more than half 
the total number for the whole of England. The population of these counties 
is estimated at only 56,589. Essex was included in Danelagh, but was 
never to any great extent peopled by Danes. On the subject of slavery in 
later Saxon times, see Pearson's History of England during the Early 



1 6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Although such absence of the slave element might 
have resulted from extermination, it is by no means 
necessary to call in such an agency to account for it. 
It might perhaps naturally result from the social 
revolution that was inevitable, and the consequent re- 
construction of the community ; nor is it inconceivable 
that the Danes, newly converted to Christianity, may. 
have been more obedient to the voice of the Church 
than the degenerate Saxons, and thus have banished 
from their midst an institution fraught with wrong and 
cruelty. However this may be, it is exceedingly pro- 
bable that this freedom from what was perhaps the 
greatest curse of the Saxon age, resulted from the 
Danish settlement,^ and it may, with reason, be accepted 
as some set-ofif against the sufferings inflicted by the 
vikings and their followers. 

Meanwhile the place-names of the county preclude 
the idea of extirpation, and a glance at the map may 
satisfy our minds that Norseman and Angle eventually 
settled side by side. No part of England received a 
larger measure of Danish blood than was introduced into 
Lincolnshire ; yet, even in this county, taken as a whole, 
it would be difficult to say whether names of Norse or 
English origin predominate. It is not, indeed, always 
possible to ascribe local names with certainty to the 
people who gave them ; undoubtedly, too, many ancient 

Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 286 ; also his Historical Maps, Preface, p. ix. 
Also Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 364, 365 ; and vol. v. 
pp. 479-481. Also Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. 
Appendix M, p. 430, note. 

^ Pearson's History of England, vol. i. y>. 286, 



THE DANISH OCCUTATION. 1 7 

names have perished from the directory ; but the evidence, 
such as it is, of our modern map, would point to a mix- 
ture, in more or less equal proportion, of Englishmen 
and Danes. 

And even when wc turn to the most cxclusively 
Danish districts of our county, there arc grounds for 
believing that there was no wholesale expulsion of earlier 
occupants ; for wc find, speaking generally, the portions 
of the county most exclusively colonized by the Danes, 
to have been those which wc may conclude were the 
least populous. In the sea-marsh between Grimsby and 
Skegness, where the pastures are exceptionally rich, 
there must have been a considerable population, and, 
consequently perhaps, much bloodshed before it could 
assume the strongly Danish character it now wears. The 
English were forced to yield and to withdraw, as the 
names upon our map at this da}- clearly show. Battles, 
attested, if tradition is to be trusted, by numerous local 
memorials, were fought, and blood flowed freely ; but, 
as the tide of Danish immigrants rolled upward to the 
hills beyond, it is doubtful whether they found many 
tenants to displace. Thick wood then skirted the marsh 
and clothed the lower slopes of the wold, whilst the 
bleak and hilly district that lay beyond, sparsely peopled 
to this day, may have had very few inhabitants,^ save 
here and there, where the situation was more than usualh" 
favourable for agriculture or pasture. In such districts 

^ It is doubtful, however, whether Mr. Green would allow that such 
situations were thinly peopled in comparison with other districts. (Making 
of England, pp. 8, 9, and 56, 57.) 

C 



1 8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

the resistance would probably be very feeble and the 
bloodshed insignificant.^ 

The distribution, moreover, of the few English place- 
names, which have survived upon these hills, tends 
somewhat to confirm this view. It is a common thing 
to find a number of insignificant villages and hamlets, 
with Danish names, clustering round a place of larger 
dimensions, bearing an English, or, at least, pre-Danish, 
designation. Such centres we have in Alford, Horn- 
castle, Partney, Tetford, Belchford, and Donington, 
in the south wolds ; ^ whilst Frodingham, Bottesford, 
Caistor, Glanford Brigg, Binbrook, and Ludford illustrate 
the same feature in the northern part of the county, and 
thus support the belief that the Danes did not resort 
to force and expulsion, when they could obtain a home 
by more peaceful measures. 

The fact, too, that bys are much more numerous than 
iliorpcs in the wold district may be fairly regarded as 
pointing in the same direction. It is true, indeed, that 

* This view seems to gain some confirmation from Mr. Freeman's 
observations (Norman Conquest, vol. ii., Ajjpendix E). " Places, it would 
a]3pear, were more commonly called after the names of individiiah in the 
Danish settlement, than they had been by the earlier English occupiers." 
He further points to the Flemish occupation of Pembrokeshire, in the twelfth 
century, as an exact parallel in this respect. A large amount of the coloni- 
zation therefore appears to have been effected by the settlement of single 
families and their dependents. 

- To these we might probably add the now insignificant little village of 
Greetham between Tetford and Horncastle, which in former times most 
likely filled a more important sphere than at present. The Norman scribe 
translated Greetham by Grandham, a fact which, coupled with the pleasant 
and advantageous situation of the place, may lead us to think that the name 
Greetham, or Greatham, was not undeserved. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. I9 

by and ho (which arc but different forms of the same 
word) have the meaning of village in Denmark, Norway, 
and Sweden at the present day ; but in Iceland, the same 
word, under the form of bar, indicates a farm ; ^ and, 
inasmuch as it is derived from bua, to dwell, its original 
meaning would naturally be a single dwelling-house. 
This, most likely, w^as its meaning when the Danes made 
the suffix by such a common feature in our county 
nomenclature ; and where this termination is found, it m.ay 
generally be regarded as marking the original home of 
a single family. The word fhorpc, on the other hand, 
is rarely used of an isolated farm, but almost invariably 
means a collection of houses, especially those of the 
poorer class. It is natural enough, therefore, to find 
more thorpcs than bys amid the rich pastures of the sea- 
marsh and the Trent valley ; quite as natural to find 
this proportion reversed amid the bleak hills, where the 
means of supporting life were less abundant or more 
precarious,^ It is, indeed, far from improbable that a 
large portion of the wolds received its Danish character- 
istics considerably later than the more fertile parts of 
the county ; and such names as Scamblesby, Fulletby, 
and Salmonby may have been derived from Danes, who 
started from Hogsthorpe and Theddlethorpe, rather than 
Schleswig or Jutland. 

^ See CI. and Vigf. Diet., bivr. 

- Although he draws no inference from it, the Rev. E. M. Cole notes 
the same phenomenon in regard to the East Riding of Yorkshire. The 
thorpes are common in the Vale of York and in Holderness, but scarce upon 
the wolds. (Rev. E. jNI. Cole, Paper on Scandinavian Place-names in the 
East Riding of Yorkshire, p. 6. ) 



20 LINCOLNSIIIRI'; AND THE DANES. 

However this may have been, and whatever may 
have been the degree of violence and forcible disposses- 
sion, one thing is certain, — the essential character of the 
population was not revolutionized. The Danish settle- 
ment was not one of extinction, but of amalgamation. 
In this feature, as has already been pointed out, the 
Danish occupation stands in striking contrast with the 
earlier English settlement. The German immigrants 
swept over the land, and Britain, in the true sense of 
the name, no longer survived except in the wilds and 
mountain fastnesses of Cumberland, Wales, and Corn- 
wall. There was no sort of fusion between victor and 
vanquished. Not only was there no blending of social 
customs, political institutions, and national sentiment ; 
but in all likelihood there was little mixture of blood 
between the two races. In the case of Dane and Angle, 
it was entirely different.^ Not only were the social and 
political changes produced by the Danish ascendency 
comparatively trifling, but, after the first excitement and 
soreness consequent on defeat, the subject population 
mingled freely with the conquerors.'-^ 

The cause of this contrast is very clear. The con- 
quered Britons and their German foes were aliens from 
one another in blood and language. The Angle and the 

^ See Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. i66, 167 ; also J. R. 
L'ireen, Making of England, p. 134 ff. ; also his History of the English People, 
vol. i. pp. 87, 88. 

- At a period long subsequent to the one of which we are speaking there 
was certainly a tendency among Danish settlers to identify themselves with 
I'jigland. (See Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 770,. 
note XXX.) 



THE DANISH OCCUl'ATION. 21 

Dane, on the other hand, were, nationally speakhig, 
near of kin. Sprung from one original stock, they were 
but separate branches of the same tree. Their language, 
their natural sentiments, their social customs were radi- 
cally the same. Nature had allied them ; and so, when 
the storm of invasion ceased to rage, the fusion between 
the Northman and the Englishman became complete.^ 

And for this very reason we shall probably search in 
vain for any distinct traces of the Dane in the physique 
and character of the present population of Lincolnshire.^ 
If anywhere in England such traces could be found, 
it would certainly be in those portions of this county, 
where the Norsemen, at the time of their settlement, far 
outnumbered the English. In such districts it is quite 
possible that there is, at the present day, more Danish 
than any other blood in the veins of the peasantry ; for 
it rarely happens even now that the men marry outside 
their own neighbourhood, and in earlier times such cases 
must have been even more infrequent. But, as a matter 
of fact, the very strong family likeness that bound the 
conquering Northman and the conquered Angle together, 
would leave little room for the discovery of specific traits 
of character or personal appearance introduced by the 

* " From the first moment of his settlement in the Danelagh, the 
Northman had been passing into an Englishman." (Green's History of the 
English People, vol. i. p. 88.) 

- Nothing that is here said refers to provincial customs, of which some 
perhaps may be derived from the Norsemen. It is also notorious that the 
language of Lincolnshire is strongly tinctured with Old Norse (see 
Anderson, Lincoln Pocket Guide, pp. 15-24). There is a wholesome 
caution against exaggerating Norse influence in England, in Professor 
Stubbs's Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 203. 



22 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Dane.'^ No doubt Lincolnshire people have their pecu- 
liarities ; but such peculiarities, even if they be thought 
to form a connecting link with Denmark, do not dis- 
sociate the county from other parts of England. And 
at this no one will feel surprised, who bears in mind that 
the family likeness, which drew Danes and Englishmen 
into social union in the ninth century, is still conspicuous 
in the modern representatives of the two races. 

At no very distant date indeed, Lincolnshire folk 
appear to have passed for a very vulgar and clownish 
company. Thomas Fuller, though highly appreciating 
the advantages of the count}-, is not always compli- 
mentary to its natives ; as, for instance, when he speaks 
of the country clowns, overgrown with hair and rude- 
ness, who prefer their own local bagpipe ^ to Apollo's 
harp.^ For such an estimate indeed he could have 
quoted high authority ; for, rather more than a century 
earlier, Henry the Eighth had pronounced the county to 
be one of " the most brute and beastly in the realm ; " * 

' Nevertheless, it shoulil be noted tliat Professor Worsaae thought that 
he did detect such traces of the Danish conquest. (Sec Danes and North- 
men, p. 78.) 

- Cf. Shakespeare, Henry I\'. I't. I., act i. sc. 2, "the drone of a Lincohi- 
shire bagpipe." It has been thought by some antiquarians that the bagpipe, 
which has taken so firm a root in Scotland, was introduced to that country 
by the Norsemen. It appears, however, that the instrument, though much 
in vogue among the Scandinavians, cannot be fathered upon them. Its 
origin is indeed lost in antiquity. It certainly may have been brought to 
Scotland by the Norwegians who settled there, and it is at least a singular 
coincidence, if nothing more, that this particular kind of music should be 
more closely associated witli the Danish county of Lincoln than whh any 
other part of England. 

^ Fuller's Worthies, Pt. H. p. 152. 

* See Froude's History of England, vol. iii. [). 114. 



THE DANISH OCCUPATION. 23 

a piece of evidence, however, which is weakened for the 
impartial critic by the fact that the royal temper had 
been severely tried by the Pilgrimage of Grace and the 
active part that Lincolnshire had taken in it. 

Had Voltaire written upon the " Danes in Lincoln- 
shire," he would doubtless have found in such opinions 
some justification for a sentiment, in which he succeeded 
in paying, with the same breath, a bad compliment to 
England and Denmark alike. According to his judg- 
ment, if Englishmen were fond of litigation, they were 
of Norman extraction ; if good natured and polite, they 
were of Plantagenet birth ; if brutal, they w^ere Danes. 
The witty Frenchman often said sharp things at the 
expense of truth, and those who have had the good 
fortune to visit Denmark know very well that, brilliant 
as may have been the example of the Plantagenet race, . 
if politeness and good nature are to be found anywhere 
at the present day, it is amongst the Danish descendants 
of the vikings. Moreover, as a matter of fact, modern 
Denmark has inherited a refinement of taste and courtesy 
of manner from a remote ancestry, for it appears, on 
undeniable authority, that the Danes who came to our 
shores a thousand years ago, made themselves somewhat 
too acceptable to English ladies by the elegance of their 
bearing and the care they took of their persons.^ 

If then the capricious king and the quaint historian, 
whose sentiments we have quoted, had any good grounds 

' Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 344; also rcarson's History 
of England during the Early and Middle Ages. vol. i. p. 295. On their 
fondness for the bath, see Chapter iii. 



24 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

for what they said ; if vulgarity and coarseness were the 
characteristics of our county in the Middle Ages, we may 
confidently maintain that they were not introduced by 
the Dane. Such sentiments probably have their faint 
echo even in our own day and concerning our own gene- 
ration. It would not be fair to conclude that there has 
been a general conspiracy from early times to take away 
the character of the county, but we may perhaps be 
allowed to cherish the belief (in spite of some adverse 
opinions) that the grounds are insufficient for sup- 
posing that Lincolnshire folk were, or are, more uncouth 
and uncivilized than their neighbours. On the contrary, 
if we consider the firm hold that the Church in early 
days had upon the county, and the network of eccle- 
siastical establishments that overspread it,^ wc may well 
believe that the refinements of Christian civilization were 
as fully appreciated and generally enjoyed in Lincoln- 
shire, during the Middle Ages, as in other parts of the 
country. In regard to our own day and generation, 
whether we look at the agricultural condition of the 
county, its manufactures, its literature, or any other 
department of human industry and thought, we have, it 
is to be hoped, little cause for shame and abundant cause 
for gratitude. 

' This may be thought, by those acquahilcd whh the corruption of 
many of these houses, to have been a ([ueslional)le blessing ; yet it can hardly 
be doubted that the balance of the Church's influence was upon the side of 
good. 



CHAPTER ir. 

CONNECTING LINKS. 

" Far as the breeze can bear, tlie billows foam, 
Survey our empire and behold our home ! 
These are our realms, no limits to their sway — 
Our flag the sceptre all who meet obey." 

The Corsair, Byrox. 

Reference has already been made to the cosmopolitan 
character of the viking's life. For him no sea was too 
dangerous, no coast was impregnable. Our own English 
shores, perhaps more than any others, suffered at the hands 
of these Northmen, and it may not be thought alto- 
gether irrelevant, or without interest, to track their course 
through our seas and trace their steps upon our coast. 

The whole way down the ■ eastern seaboard of 
England, as might be anticipated, we meet with names 
that tell of the Danes who made themselves masters of 
it. As we pass down the coasts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and 
Essex, we are still looking on what was part of Danelagh, 
and on landing at Yarmouth or Lowestoft we feel no sur- 
prise to find ourselves in the neighbourhood of Ormesby, 
Mautby, Thorpe, and Colby, as if the very ships that 
brought Orms and Malts and Kolls to the shores of Lin- 
colnshire, had carried the same greedy pirates to Norfolk. 



26 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

The estuar}' of the Thames was the south-eastern 
bounclai-}' of the Danelagh ; but, although in sighting 
the shores of Kent \vc cross the acknowledged limit of 
Danish rule, we still find, as we coast along, some traces 
of the vikings' power.^ From the names of Sheerness,^ 
Margate, Ramsgate, Sandwich, Sandgate, Dungeness, 
Seaford, Bognor, Swanwick,^' Rugner,'^ Swanage,^ we 

^ From their constant presence in tlie river TImmcs, the north coast of 
Kent probably suffered ahnost more tlian any part of tliis country from the 
visits of the Danes. " The singuhar excavations in the chalk, which occur at 
East Tilbury, near the Thames, are called Dane.-,' Moles, and are tradition- 
ally Ijclieved to have l^een constructed as places of refuge from the Northern 
invaders. They are entered by narrow circular openings, that widen into 
chambers and galleries as you descend." (H. G. Hewlett, Characteristics of 
Kent; A'inctccnth Century, August, 1881.) From a discussion, however, 
of Dene Holes, Greys Thurrock, Essex, hi N'oics and Queries (1882) it 
appears more than doubtful whether the Danes had anything to do with 
the formation of these singular cavities. Nevertheless, the traditional belief 
which has connected these Kentish holes with the Norsemen is evidence of 
the dread with which those visitors v.'ere regarded. (For similar traditions in 
regard to Danes' Holes, county Durham, see Teai-son's History of England, 
vol. i. p. 167.) 

- These names on the south and south-eastern coast have usually been 
traced to the Danes (see Words and Places, pp. 109, 120) ; but is it not possible 
that they were given at a far earlier period, viz. at the conquest effected bj' 
the Jutes in the fifth century ? The Jutes, after making themselves masters of 
Kent, played no important part in the settlement of England ; but they 
colonized the Isle of Wight, and some districts on the Southampton Water. 
It may be therefore that such names as Sheerness, Sandwich, Margate, 
Keynor, Bognor, Swanwick near Southampton, Brownage (D.B., Burnewic), 
Ventnor, may he traced to the time when the first invaders from the North 
and East landed at Ebbsfleet, in 449. (For termination or, see remarks- 
on Ravensore, in Chapter xii.) 

* Swanwick is situated near the entrance of the river Ilamble, in Hamp- 
shire. In this river, close to Swanwick, may be seen at low water the 
remains of a large Danish galley. (For a short notice of this wreck, see a 
paper by ]\Ir. E. P. 'L.oWw^'QxooX^, \\\ Journal of Arelueologieal Association 
for 1S76; also Graphic for Nov. 27, 1875.) 

* D.B., Rugenore. 

^ Ancientlv Swanwick. 



CONNECTING LINKS. 2/ 

may gather that the Dane was only too well known 
upon our south and south-eastern coasts. 

On leaving Essex, however, it is not until we come 
to Devonshire, that we find evidence of permanent 
Danish settlement.^ From the river Thames to the 
river Axe, we look in vain, or almost in vain, for those 
suffixes which imply colonization and residence ; but, 
when we reach the coast of Devonshire, wc meet once 
more the familiar tJiorpc and toft, while our Lincoln- 
shire by is represented by bear or beer, which is almost 
identical in form with the old Danish byr and the 
Icelandic bccr? The evidence afforded by this last- 
named suffix indiciites that the Northmen settled in 
some numbers at the mouth of the Otter, on the left 

^ Unless Ave except a small tlistrict in the neighbourhood of Hungerford, 
where, though we can hardly suppose there was anything like a large settle- 
ment of the Danes, we find a surprising number of local names which seem 
to point to a Danish source. Close to Hungerford are the following jjlaces : 
Denford (D.B., Daneford), Inholmes, Hayward Bottom; to the north-east, 
halfway between Hungerford and Reading, we find Grimsbury Castle, 
Coldrup Farm, llilldrup, Westrup Wood, and Wellows. In various 
directions, but all within a short distance, we find the following names : — 
Honey Bottom, Southbys Farm (this may be a personal name of modern 
date), Coneygarth, Butlermere, and Il)throp. It may be safely said that in 
no other area of the same extent in South England (except possibly in parts of 
Devonshire, of which we are about to speak), are Norse names to be found 
in such numbers. It is impossible not to connect them with the Danish 
armies which overran this part of the khigdom between 870 and S78, and 
which, for some time at least, occupied this very district. Denford, situated 
on the river Kennet, may well commemorate the passage of the Danish 
force. Can the name of Hungerford, which at an early period replaced the 
more ancient Inglefol, be named from Hingvar, who (in conjunction with 
Hubba) appears still to have commanded the Danes, and figures in the pages 
£)f Ingulphus as Unguar? Is it further possible that the ancient Inglefol, 
rather than Englefield, nearer Reading, was the scene of the great battle 
between the Danes and Saxons, in 871 ? 

- Cf. Scotch and North England /'I'/'v, a cowshed. 



28 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

bank of the Exe, up the estuary of the Tamar and in 
other parts. Substitute by for beer, and such names 
as Rockbeer, Houndbeer, Aylesbeer, Langabeer, become 
famiUar enough to Lincohishire ears.^ 

Passing Helford and Gweek - (both names betraying 
a Northern origin), we give a wide berth to the rock- 
bound coast of Cornwall, and sight the Scilly Isles. 
Here we find the chief port rejoicing, like the chief port 
of Lincolnshire, in the name of Grimsby ; whilst we learn 
that St. Agnes, the southern island of this group, 
represents a Lincolnshire friend in disguise. St. Agnes 
is no other than Hagenes, a common name among the 
marauding Norsemen, and here canonized by popular 
consent, on the charitable principle, it might seem, " de 
mortuis nil nisi bonum." ^ Nor should we forget that 
the Scilly Isles have a special interest in the history of 
the vikings from the fact that they were the scene of 
a very remarkable conversion. It was here that Olaf 
Tryggvi's son, afterwards King Olaf of Norway, was 
changed from a fierce and powerful pirate into an 
ardent champion of the Christian faith. 

Rounding the Land's End, we pursue a north- 
westerly course, and, as we sail under Lundy Island * 

' Words and Places, p. 119. The Danish origin of these names has not 
gone altogether unquestioned. (See N'otcs and Queries for Nov. 5, 1S64. 
Eut in spite of criticism, Air. Taylor has, and ^ith good reason, retained 
his convictions in subsequent editions. 

- Words and Places, p. 119. 

* I give this on the authority of Mr. Isaac Taylor, from whose book on 
Words and Places much in the earlier part of this chapter is taken ; cf. 
St. Agnes with Hagnaby (Hagenebi), Lincolnshire. 

^ See Words and Places, p. 117. Mr. Taylor derives it from Old Norse 
hiihii; a grove, or litndi, a puffin. 



CONXECTIXG LINKS. 29 

and the distant shore of Bideford Bay is pointed out to 
us, we are reminded by such names that the Norsemen 
have sailed these seas before us. We now leave the old 
Danish stations of Steep and Flat Holme far upon our 
right, and, crossing the Bristol Channel, we approach 
a portion of the coast, which is thickly strewn with 
memorials of Scandinavian occupation. The inlets of 
the Pembrokeshire coast formed an irresistible attraction 
to these sea-rovers, Norwegians as well as Danes ; and 
this south-west corner of Wales became one of their 
favourite haunts. Here wc are sailing past wicks and 
iiesscs, fords and stacks and holms, almost as though we 
were amid the head-quarters of the Northmen ; and on 
landing we find, in the country bordering the sea, the 
clearest indications of permanent colonization. Nor can 
those who live in Lincolnshire fail to be struck with 
such familiar sounds as Brotherhill, Creamston (Grim- 
ston), Thurston, Colby, Hannah, Dcrb}-, Scarborough. 
Honey Hill, and Butterhill.i 

Steering further northward, we observe that the same 
race have left their traces at Orme's Head, Priest Holm, 
the Skerries, and a few other places. But Ave may leave 
these behind, and make for an interesting corner of 
Cheshire, where, judging merely b}- the place-names, 
we might almost fancy ourselves in our own count}'. 
This is the district known as the W^irral,"-^ a spit of land 

* Cf. Brothertoft, Grimsby, Coleby, Hannah, Dcrl)y, Scaiiho, Honey- 
hills, Honington, and Butterwick in Lincolnshire. Other names in Pem- 
brokeshire, which are not unrepresented in Lincolnshire, are Bullwell, 
Gander's Nest, Thimble Farm, and Colland. 

- Wirral, a corruption of Wirhale. The suffix is most lilcely the Old 



30 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

that stretches into the sea between the mouths of the 
Dee and the Mersey ; and although we must not forget 
that this portion of Cheshire was included in Danelagh, 
it seems, nevertheless, somewhat strange to be moving 
about, within scent of the Irish Sea, amid such names as 
Irby, Greasby, Kirby, Ness, and Holme. 

Before pushing any further to the north, we must 
pay a very hasty visit to the Isle of Man, which bears 
numerous traces of Scandinavian conquest and occu- 
pation. The Chronicles of Man relate that the southern 
half of the island was divided amongst the victorious 
Northmen, whilst the Celtic population was left in 
undisturbed possession of the north. The distribu- 
tion of Scandinavian names certainly gives some support 
to this record ; but the early historical notices of the 
island are so confused, that it is impossible to draw 
any sure conclusion as to the dates and persons. The 
division of the land has generally been attributed to 
Godred, King of Dublin, at the time of his taking posses- 
sion in 1080 ; but the name of Godred is woven into all 
the earlier annals of the island, and this partition, if it ever 
really took place, must be assigned to some earlier God- 
red than the well-known King of Dublin of that name.^ 

Norse Jiali, Danish hale, a neck or spit of land. Cf. Sand Haile Flats, in 
Lincolnshire ; Ulvshale, in Moen ; and Revshale, at Copenhagen. Wirral 
is the Wirheal of the Saxon Chronicle. Gibson's note in his edition of 
the Saxon Chronicle is — ' ' Virheale, Wirhale, W. Chersonesus in agro 
Cestrensi, hodie Wirhall." Pearson, Historical Maps, 1870, gives, how- 
ever, hcalh, a headland, as a Saxon word occurring in place-names, and 
instances Streoncshealh, the former name for Whitby. 

* Professor Munch's Chronica Rcgum Mannirc, with historical notes, 
pp. 50-54. 



CONNECTING LINKS. 3 1 

It seems clear that the Isle of Alan was one of 
Harald Fairhair 's numerous conquests, and thus became, 
about the year 870, an appendage of the Norwegian 
crown. Although, therefore, we cannot state with cer- 
tainty the date at which the Scandinavian place-names 
were introduced into the island, probability points clearly 
to the time of its original conquest by Harald, which, 
by a curious coincidence, exactly corresponds with the 
Danish occupation of Lincolnshire. 

It is likely that there Avas close intercourse between 
the Danes of England and the Norsemen of Man, and 
Mr. Worsaae suggests that there may have been a large 
mixture of Danes amongst the subjects of the Jarls, who 
ruled the island during the ninth and tenth centuries. 
However this may have been, many of the Norse names 
in the island bear a striking resemblance to those with 
which we are most familiar, and bear a Danish rather 
than a Norwegian stamp. Among others we find the 
following : — Kirby, Crosby, Colby, Greenaby, Dalby, 
Surby, Garwick, Scholaby, Holme, and Garth.^ 

From the Isle of Man it is but a step on the one side 
to Ireland, and on the other to the Lake district. On 
one side, as on the other, the Norsemen have left 
numerous traces of their former presence. 

As early as the ninth century the Norwegians and 
Danes (or Ostmen,^ as they were called) had founded 

^ Also cf. Cringle, Nab, Honey Hill. 

" See atist-mct&r, pi. aust-7ncmi, CI. and Vigf. Diet. This was a stand- 
ing name of those who came from the Scandinavian continent, especially- 
Norse merchants. The English used the word castcrling in the same sense. 
The Norsemen were also known in Ireland as the Dugall, i.e. the black 
strangers. 



^2 IJNCOLNSPIIRE AND THE DANES. 

kingdoms in Ireland. Their head-quarters were at 
Dubhn, Waterford, and Limerick ; but the}- also settled 
in considerable numbers at Wexford, Cork, and other 
points along the coast. Dublin, however, was the centre 
of Norwegian influence and authority in Ireland. 

First conquered, if we may trust the chronicles, 
about the middle of the ninth century by Olaf the White, 
it was not until 1200 that the dynasty, then founded, 
came to an end, and that kings of Norwegian descent 
ceased to rule in the island.^ Amongst the most famous 
and most dreaded of Irish vikings Averc the grandsons '-^ 
of the great Hingvar or Ivar, who, with his brother 
Hubba, invaded England in 868. 

The principal traces of Norse occupation naturall}- 
cluster round Dublin and line the coast ; but we must 
not forget that the suffix in the name of three out of 
four of the Irish provinces attests the power of the 
Northmen.^ In the neighbourhood of Dublin, we meet 
with Dalkey, Howth,'* Fingall, Lamba}-, the Skerries, 
Leixlip, Strangford, Carlingford, all betraying a Northern 

^ For list of Irish-Norwegian kings, .sec Worsaae, Danes and Nortli- 
men, p. 317. 

- These were Reginald, Sitric, ( lodfrey, Ivar. They wvvc known as; 
Ily Ivar, and were his grandsons through a daughter who married a Seotch 
viking, name unknown. Ivar, the grandfather, appears to have died in 872. 
The Hy Ivar belong to the history of the Western Isles and Northurabria, 
as well as to that of Ireland. (See Robertson, Scotland under her Early 
Kings, vol. i. pp. 53-56 ; and for genealogy of Ily Ivar, vol. ii. Appendix 
A., p. 188.) 

" Old Norse scfr, a settlement. 
' ■* Howth (in ancient documents, Ilofda, Ilouete, Iloueth) preserver 
almost intact the Old Danish form of Old Norse Jiofiid, modern Danish 
hoved ; the modern Fiskcrhoved in F)enmark is identified with Dighroe- 
houreth of L.C.D. 



CONNECTING LINKS. T,;^ 

origin, while Oxmantown, once separate from, but now 
incorporated with DubHn, is the modern form of Ostman- 
town. Many of the names on the south coast were also 
given by the vikings. Such, for example, are Wexford, 
Waterford, Isle of Calf, Tuskar Rock, Durscy Island, 
Sraerwick, Toe Head, Greenore, Skelligs, Fastness. It 
may be added that, in the time of King John, Lough 
Larne was called Wulvricheford (Ulricsford), and that 
possibly we owe to the vikings the name of Wicklow, 
which appears in ancient writings as Wykynlo, and so 
reminds us of the former Wichingebi, but present 
Wickenbv, of Lincolnshire.^ 

If we turn from Ireland to the Lake district of Cum- 
berland and Westmoreland, we shall find ourselves in 
a part of England where the place-names, even more 
generally than in our own county of Lincoln, may be 
traced to the Northmen. Here, however, Norwegians, 
not Danes, were the principal colonists, and it is pro- 
bable that Ireland and the Isle of Man, having been 
already mastered, formed convenient stepping-stones to 
this corner of England.^ 

The names that we observe in this district prove 
beyond doubt its occupation by settlers from Norway, 
but indicate, at the same time, how close was the affinity 
between Norwegian and Dane. In Cumberland and 

' For these and man)' other very interesting particulars, see ^^"orsaae's 
Danes and Northmen, pp. 297-357. 

- Ml. Ferguson agrees with Professor Worsaae that the stream of colo- 
nization reached the Lake district from Ireland and the Isle of Man, and 
fixes the date between a.d. 945 and 1000. (Northmen in Cumberland and 
Westmoreland, p. 11.) 

D 



34 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Westmoreland we still find the dales, the bys, the Jiozvs, 
the hecks, the nesses, with which we are so familiar 
in Lincolnshire. On the other hand, while tofts and 
thorpes are rare, we find an abundance of tkioaites, 
forces, fells, and gills, which are seldom or never found 
in the east of England. The distinctions are obvious, 
but the agreements are equally so ; and as we move 
amid such names as Corby, Harraby, Grimsdale, Butter- 
gill, Thursby, Brocklebank, Ormskirk, Crosby, Birkby, 
Colby, and Brackenthwaitc, we do not seem to be far 
from home, and readily recognize our relationship to 
the dalesmen.^ 

It is not within our limits to follow the Norsemen 
in their contact with Scotland and the adjacent isles. 
The subject can here only be touched in the briefest 
possible way. If we look at a map of Dumfriesshire, 
we shall at once see that the Norwegian colonists of 
Cumberland crossed the border into Scotland ; and, if 
we proceed along the western coast, with its numerous 
inlets and islands, we shall detect the unmistakable 
presence of the Northmen in a large proportion of the 
place-names. Often much corrupted by the lapse of 
time, and disguised by a Gaelic pronunciation, they 
nevertheless still bear witness to the ubiquitous con- 
quests of the Norwegian vikings.^ In the north of 
Scotland the memorials of the vikings are both clear 
and abundant. The name of Sutherland still points to 

' See Words and Places, p. Ii6, etc. 

- Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 218, etc. ; and especially a paper 
by Captain Thomas in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquarians of 
Scotland, vol. xi. p. 472, 1S76. 



CONNECTING LINKS. 35 

the encroaching power of a race that came from the 
North ; nor is it unHkely that Caithness was so called 
from the pirate ships that visited these coasts.^ 

The Hebrides (the Sudreyjar of the Norsemen), as 
well as the Orkneys and the Shetlands, were dependen- 
cies of the Norwegian crown from an early date until 
the middle of the thirteenth century ; and a study of the 
local names may show that, while in the Hebrides a large 
Scandinavian element was mingled with the Gaelic popu- 
lation, the Orkneys and the Shetlands almost wholly 
exchanged their Celtic for a Norwegian character."-^ 

Before we pass from these connecting links and 
return to Lincolnshire, there are two other countries, 
which, though beyond the limits of the United Kingdom, 
we cannot leave altogether unnoticed, viz. Iceland and 
Normandy, — the one peculiarly interesting to Scandi- 
navian, the other to English history. 

The distant, barren, and thinly peopled island of the 

* The first syllable in Caithness appears not to be kctje, which, in the 
Lapp language, means extremity, but kati, Old Norse for small ship (see 
CI. and Vigf. Diet., kati). Cf. Kattegat, i.e. kati, ship, ^i^/a, way. This 
word kati may be the catcli or ketch of our eastern coasts. Mr. Isaac 
Taylor, however, derives Caithness from ketje, and believes it to be a relic 
of an Ugrian population, which preceded the arrival of the Celts. (Sec 
Words and Places, p. 113, note.) 

- There was a close connection, up to a comparatively late date, between 
these islands and the north of Scotland, though, on the mainland, tlic 
Norsemen surrendered their possessions as early as 1012. (See Worsaac, 
Danes and Northmen, p. 215.) It is recorded in the Orkneyinga Saga 
that the Jarls of Orkney crossed every summer to the mainland for the jjur- 
pose of hunting red deer and reindeer. The Jarls referred to ai-e Rognvald 
and Harald, 1 159. Whether the true reindeer is meant in the Saga is some- 
what doubtful. See this point discussed in Harting's Extinct Briti>h 
Animals, pp. 71-74. 



36 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Arctic Sea has, through the accident of circumstances, 
played a more important part than any other country 
in the history of the Norseman. It has preserved to us 
the spoken and written language, the national traditions 
and primitive faith, together with a picture of life and 
manners in ancient Scandinavia, for which we elsewhere 
look in vain.^ " Much would have been lost had Iceland 
not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by 
the Norsemen." '-^ 

To devote even a few passing remarks to so remote 
a shore is doubtless, in some sense, a digression ; but 
the frequent reference made in the following pages to 
the language and topography of this island will prove 
that, whatever may be the case from a geographical 
point of view, at least its connection with our subject is 
not remote. The Norwegian occupation of Iceland was 
almost simultaneous with the Danish conquests in Eng- 
land.^ Inhospitable as the country must even then 
have been, when to some extent clothed with wood 
which has since disappeared,* it seemed, nevertheless, 

^ See G. W. Dasent's Introduction to CI. and Vigf. Diet. ; also his Intro- 
duction to Burnt Njal, and his Norsemen in Iceland, Oxford Essays, 1S5S. 

- T. Carlyle, Lectures on Heroes, Lecture i. 

^ Haraldr Haarfager became sole king of Norway in 868. Between 
866 and 870 a large part of England was subjugated by the Danes. (See 
Chapter i. ) 

■' Gardar, one of the earliest colonists, found it wooded between fell and 
firth. (See Dasent, Norsemen in Iceland.) I/pU and s/cc[i;^r and even mark 
(forest) are found in local names in Iceland, the first very frequently, e.g. 
Villinga-holt, Lang-holt, Skala-holt. " In olden times all these places 
were no doubt covered with copse (of dwarf birch)." In common Icelandic 
use of the present day /lo/i means any rough stony hill or ridge (CI. and 
Vigf. Diet. ; see also Words and Places, p. 243). 



CONNECTING LINKS. 3/ 

opportunely to throw open its fiords and havens to the 
victims of Harald F'airhair's tyranny. It was in his 
reign that the stream of immigration began, which, by 
the beginning of the tenth century, had filled the island 
with Norwegian nobles, who divided the land and con- 
stituted themselves a colony of independent chiefs. 
Their descendants, speaking the original language, and 
called by the same names, survive to this day. We 
know probably as little of Iceland as of any part of 
Europe, yet, distant and unfamiliar as the country is, 
we do not seem to be altogether strangers as we journey 
from Ketilsdalr to Ormsdalr, or from Gunnarsboer to 
Thorisdalr, or as we pass through Svinadair, Ingolfstabir, 
and Anavik.^ 

The temptation is strong to linger in the far north 
among a people, who, as we have seen, brought from 
Norway the same names that were introduced by the 
Danes into Lincolnshire, — a people whose present litera- 
ture contains the songs, the traditions, the creeds, of all 
the Northern races, — a people whose present language 
differs little from that which Naddod, the Norwegian, 
and Gardar, the Swede, introduced to the frost-bound 
island more than a thousand years ago. But we must 
forbear, and sail southward, to visit a country even 
more interesting than Iceland to every Englishman. 

In the year 913, Rolf the Ganger,^ a formidable 

^ Among many names which cany our maids back to Lincohishire are the 
following : — Skeggja-staSir, Thorodd-statSir, Ulfs-dalir, Grimsey, Saurbter, 
SkarS, Bu<5ar-dalr, Asgeirsa, Ingjaldsholl, Skinanda-vegr, Abaer, Lundr, 
Hrafna-bjorg, Egil-sta^ir, Geir-land, Sleinsholt, Ilagi, Vitilsfell, StaSr. 

^ Rolf the Ganger was son of Rognvald, Earl of Ma;ri, in Southern 



38 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

viking, after an adventurous life, cast a covetous eye 
on one of the fairest portions of France. Charles the 
Simple made a virtue of necessity, and ceded to him a 
province abutting upon the sea, and watered by the 
river Seine, upon the condition that he should be 
baptized, and hold his possessions as a fief of the French 
crown. These conditions were accepted, and the 
province received the name of Normandy, after its new 
colonists. At the present day the map of this part of 
France bears abundant evidence of this occupation ; for 
as the Danes who came with Hubba and Hingvar left 
their names on the Trent-side, so also did the followers 
of Rolf on the banks of the Seine ; — and long before 
Duke William, the great descendant of Rolf, united the 
two countries, a connecting link had been established 
between England and Normandy in the names intro- 
duced by the vikings into both countries alike. 

The county of Lincoln, like the rest of England, was 
destined to feel the iron heel of the Conqueror, although 
many parts of the kingdom suffered much more severely.^ 
And when Ivo de Taillebois, Gilbert de Lacy, and Henri 

Norway, and nephew of Sigiu^r, the first earl of Orkney. In CI. and Vigf. 
J^ict., JMivrr, it is stated that Rognvald, Earl of Ma;ri, was ancestor of 
the earls of Orkney, but, according to Annal. Islandici, SigurSr (potens 
comes Orcadum) was brother of Rognvald. The uncertainty as to whether 
Rolf was of Danish or Norwegian extraction has resulted from a temporary 
connection with Scania (Southern Sweden), which then belonged to Den- 
mark, and also from the large number of Danes who joined themselves to 
his standard. (See Biog. Universelle (edit. 1843), liollon.) 

' Domesday Book shows that in no city or shire of the kingdom did so 
many Englishmen keep large estates and high offices as in Lincoln and 
Lincolnshire. (E. A. Freeman, Lindum Colonia ; jMacjiiillan^ s Magazine, 
IS75-) 



CONNECTINC: LINKS. 39 

dc Ferriers came sweeping down upon their new posses- 
sions, the very names they met in their march might 
liave appealed to their pity, by reminding them that 
they were plundering their own kith and kin. It must 
have at least been somewhat startling for adventurers 
from Clitourps, Haconville, and Hautot, to be confronted 
by the names of Cleethorpes, Hacconby, and Huttoft ; 
to find their Foulbec, Houlbec and Corbie, Bosville, 
Depedale and Houlgate, reproduced in names which 
scarcely differed in spelling, whatever might have been 
their divergence in pronunciation.^ But, in the century 
and a half that had passed since Rolf the Ganger set 
his foot in France, the Normans had ceased to be 
Northmen in all things save their name, and the martial 
Ijlood that still flowed in their veins.^ They had become 
Frenchmen in language, habit, and religion. That such 
connecting links, as we have noticed in the place-names, 
had but a nominal value, we are assured by the fact 
that some of Duke William's greatest difficulties in 
the conquest of England were closely associated with 
Lincolnshire. No sooner had he won the battle of 
Senlac than he found it convenient to buy off a Danish 
fleet that had assembled in the waters of our Humber,^ 

' Cf. also the following names : — Quetteville (formerly Ketelsvilla), 
Trouville (Torulfivilla), Boucquelon (Bogelund), Gonnetot, Bourville, Butot 
= Bytoft, Le Houlme, Ectot, Languetot, Turretot, La Londe, Lilletot, 
Carbec, Le Torp, Heuland, Asville, Huberville, Catteville, Biville, 
Querqueville, Mobec, Grimonville. (And see G. B. Depping, Expeditions 
iNIaritimes des Normands, Excursus, Des Noms Topographiques, etc., p. 541.) 

^ Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 166, 167. 

* A.D. 1069 (Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 319). The fleet 
was commanded, not by King Sweyn in person, but by his brother, Earl 
Osbeorn. 



40 IJNCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

whilst a few years later he met his most stubborn foe in 
Hereward, surnamed the Wake, possessor of large estates 
in this very county.^ 

And now, having threaded our way, like the vikings 
of old, through all the British waters, having touched at 
many parts of the British coast, and glanced at points 
beyond our English seas, we will return to Lincolnshire 
and stay there. 

* jNIore than this it would be rash to say. Kingsley, in his romance 
(following Sir Henry Ellis), makes Hereward son of the great Earl Leofric, 
and lord of Bourne. He also speaks of him as an Anglo-Dane. Mr. Free- 
man (Norman Conquest, vol. iv. pp. 455-459 ^n<i 805-810) shows how 
untrustworthy is the foundation for such a view. The only facts that can 
be relied upon are that Hereward possessed estates in Kesteven, county 
Lincoln (possibly also in Warwickshire), and headed the rebellion of 
the Fens against the Conqueror in 1070. Mr. Freeman, however, admits 
that the strongly Danish character of Lincolnshire and East Anglia may 
have induced the population of those parts to turn to King Sweyn of 
Denmark, as their protector against the Norman. 



CHAPTER HI. 

THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HO:\IE. 

"So fails, so languishes, grows dim, and dies 
All that this world is liroud of . , . 
• • • • • ■ 

. . . and Nature's pleasant robe of green, 
Humanity's appointed shroud, enwraps 
Their monuments and their memory." 

The Excursion, Wordsworth. 

Before dealing with the main subject of these chapters, 
it may be well to try and give, on the one hand, some 
idea of the Norsemen who settled in England, and, on 
the other, to call up some faint picture of Lincoln- 
shire as they found it. A few remarks on these points 
may help to infuse some life and interest into a subject 
which, in itself, probably has charms for few. The only 
possible way, perhaps, of throwing any general interest 
into place-names is, in some sense, to make the men 
who gave them live again, and to traverse with them 
the country of which they took possession. It will, 
therefore, be the aim of this chapter to make these 
Northmen something more than shadows from the 
darkest of the dark ages, and also to point out a few 
of the changes wrought by the ever-increasing wants 



42 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

of man in the physical condition of the county they 
colonized. 

Let us, then, in fancy transport ourselves to the last 
decade of the ninth century, at which date we may • 
suppose many of the Danes to be established in their 
new possessions, and settling down to the comparatively 
peaceful life that fire and steel have won for them. 
Already they begin to call the lands after their own 
names. Already Ulfric's portion, nestling amid the 
wolds, and still, it may be, preserving some lingering 
traces of Roman civilization,^ is called Ulfricsby,'^ now 
worn to Worlaby ; already Thor's allotment amid the 
forests that skirt the wold and crown the marshland, is 
called Thoresby ; already the rich pasture land, border- 
ing the sea, that Geirmund has chosen for his home, is 
called Germundthorpe,^ now corrupted to Grainthorpe. 
Let us glance at these new-comers. 

Norsemen varied, no doubt, in personal appearance 
as much as men of other nationalities ; but a typical 
specimen of beauty, according to their own idea, would 
possess more than ordinary height, with broad shoulders 
and deep chest ; his eyes would be blue, his hair light 
and flowing down his back, his complexion fresh, his 
hands and feet small.'* If, however, we take them as a 

^ From the remains which have been discovered here, it is evident that 
there was a large Roman settlement, and most probably some pottery works. 
The allusion is to Worlaby, near Horncastle, not Worlaby, near Brigg. 

- D.B., Wluricebi. 

' D.B., Germundetorp. 

^ G. W. Dasent, Norsemen in Iceland, Oxford Essays, p. 170, 1S5S. 
He is describing the Norwegians or Icelanders ; but, as he remarks, " the 
outward look of Swede, Dane and Norseman, was nearly the same." 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 43 

body, and try to picture them as they marched in 
marauding bands across the sea-marsh and up over the 
wolds, we shall not be far wrong in thinking of them as 
compact in figure, with a general appearance indicating 
power to do and to endure, to strike hard or work hard, 
as circumstances might demand, — men, on the whole, 
not unlike a large proportion of the peasants you meet 
at this day in a drive across the wolds of Lincolnshire.^ 
Speaking generally, their faces would be broad and 
marked by rather high cheek-bones ; their eyes would 
be blue or bluish grey, their nose inclined to be flat, and, 
it may be, a trifle turned up, whilst long, light, and well- 
combed hair completes the picture.'-^ To both sexes 
alike the hair was an object of special pride and atten- 
tion.^ Men, as well as women, allowed it to grow to a 
great length, that of the fair sex being distinguished by 
a plait fastened with a gold ring.* 

Like their Roman predecessors, these Danes were 
much given to the use of the bath ; so much so, that 
the bath-room was an essential part of every well- 
ordered establishment. The usual time for bathing- 
was just before going to bed, and, supper being a light 

^ Nothing strikes the visitor to Denmark more forcibly than the resem- 
blance of the Danes to the English. 

- See Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 79 ; also Danes in Lincoln- 
shire, by the Bishop of Nottingham, Lincoln Archirological Society's 
Report, p. 44, 1859. 

^ It is rather singular that amongst the very few imdoubted Danish 
remains yielded by Lincolnshire should be a comb, found at Lincoln, with 
the following inscription, "A good comb makes Thorfastr." (See Danes 
in Lincolnshire, p. 44.) 

* Bishop of Nottingham, Danes in Lincolnshire, p. 44. 



44 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

meal, such a practice did not violate the simple sanitary 
rules of primitive life.^ 

The Norseman has often been stigmatized as a 
glutton and a drunkard ; he has been pictured as even 
more thoroughly in his element, when eating and drinking 
to excess, than in his life of robbery and murder. Yet 
the accusation would appear to be false.^ Times there 
doubtless were, when the description of their festivities 
with which we are familiar in a well-known passage of 
a popular poem ^ may have been deserved ; we may be 
allowed to picture them as gorging themselves upon 
the half-dressed ox, carousing in oceans of black beer^ 
hurling at each other in brutal jest the bones they had 
just gnawed, and listening with savage delight, while their 
bards yelled out the joys of war. At the same time 
we may believe that the difference in this respect be- 
tween the heathen Dane and the Saxon Christian was 
not very great. We may doubtless admit that, on occa- 
sions, their feats at the banqueting table were somewhat 
astonishing, and that if their circumstances had per- 
mitted a life of leisure and self-indulgence, they might 
perhaps have justified the opinion that has too hastily 
been formed of them ; but in ordinary life they appear 

' Tlie bath-room was situated at the rear of the house, and was called 
ba'S-stofa. The modern sitting-room in Iceland is, curiously enough, called 
ba'6-siofa, not because it is a bath-i"oom or contains such a thing as a bath, 
but probably because it occupies, in the modern house, the position that the 
bath-room did in earlier times. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., bai. Also 
article on Iceland, by Sir David Wedderburn, Ninctccntli Cent my, for 
August, 1880.) 

^ Dasent, Burnt Njal, Introduction, ]■>. cxvi. 

^ Marmion, Introduction to Canto Sixth. 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 45 

to have been abstemious as well as industrious. Until 
their conversion to Christianity they were addicted to 
the use of horse-flesh,^ but their favourite meat was pork, 
and great was their satisfaction when swine's flesh, beer, 
and mead were to be had in abundance. An unfailing- 
supply of these luxuries was one of the prospective joys 
of Valhalla, their Paradise, and it must be confessed 
that they cherished something like scorn for the cup 
of cold water. In the prose Edda, which has preserved 
to us, with such faithful simplicity, the ancient belief 
of these Scandinavian races, some unfortunate member 
of a temperance society is made to ask the question, 
" Is water drunk in Valhalla .'' " Indignant and scornful 
is the reply. It is as follows : — " V/ater drunk in Val- 
halla ? a wondrous question ! as if Odin, the Father 
of gods, would ask kings and earls and warriors to his 
feast and give them only water to drink ! I trow there 
would be many in Valhalla, who would think they had 
bought their water-drink dear, if better drink than water 
were not to be had, — they who have borne toils and 
wounds unto death ; mead is the warrior's drink." ^ Wc 
must not, however, from such words infer that the 
ancient Norseman was an habitual drunkard.^ Very 
far from it. It was only on high days and festivals 

' Idol- worship, exposure of infants, and the consumption of horseflesh 
were the three principal abominations against wliich the Christian teachers 
directed their elTorts ; the last because it was inseparably connected with 
the first. (See Dasent, Burnt Njal, Introduction, p. xxv.) 

- Norsemen in Iceland, Oxford Essays, p. 192, 185S ; and Mallet's 
Northern Antiquities, Bohn, p. 430, 1847. 

' Dasent, Burnt Njal, Introduction, p. cxvi. 



46 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

that he drank immoderately. In ordinary life he was 
sober ; the liquors he drank were not potent, nor were 
they generally taken to excess.^ 

The men of whom we are speaking were as indus- 
trious at home, as they were brave and adventurous 
abroad. The dignity of labour was fully recognized by 
them. After months of daring enterprise by sea and 
land, the ancient Dane would settle down with contented 
mind to the labour of the field and the sheepfold. The 
chief himself set the example. There was, generally 
speaking, no handier house-carpenter or village black- 
smith than he in the whole community, and he was as 
ready to repair in dock, as to command at sea, the ship 
that had carried him on voyages of plunder during the 
months of summer. While the men were out at work 
in their various callings, the women were quite as busy 
within doors, cooking, carding wool, sewing, weaving, 
spinning, or otherwise engaged in household work.^ 

The war galleys in which these Norsemen sailed to 
our shores can hardly fail to be a subject of interest.^ 
The art of shipbuilding was carried to a high degree 

^ Drunkenness is by no means an invariable characteristic of the modern 
representative of the Norsemen. In Sweden it is very common, not so in 
Norway, while in Denmark it is comparatively rare. 

" Burnt Njal, Introduction, p. cxvi. See also Kingsley's remarks on 
the thrift and common sense of the Northmen (Historical Lectures and 
Essays, p. 259). 

^ It has often been maintained that the love which Englishmen show for 
the sea, together with their skill and courage as sailors, was introduced into 
their blood by the Danes. Thus Robertson, in his Scotland under her 
Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 437 : " The Anglo-Saxons were not a seafaring 
people. To his Scandinavian forefathers the Englishman owes his attach- 
ment to the sea." The late Mr. Green, lio«-ever, strongly maintains the 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 47 

of perfection by these vikings,^ and there was no pos- 
session more precious in their eyes than the vessel 
which carried them over every sea, to the islands of the 
Levant on the one hand, to the mainland of America 
on the other."-^ An indication of their sentiment may 
be found in the names by which they designated this 
treasure, and the living sympathies with which their 
imagination endowed it. It was a horse, an eagle, a 
stag, an ox, a dragon, a sea-serpent. Like the horse 
that responds to his rider's voice, and almost consciously 
aids his efforts, the good ship of the viking has valour 
in her " iron-fastened breast," hears her master's voice, 
and, in obedience to his appeal, stings to death, with her 
sharp keel, the monster of the deep.^ 

The war-ship (lang-skip) was, for the purpose of 
speed, of greater length than the merchantman (kaup- 
skip). High at stem and stern, she was low in the 
waist, that the oarsmen, who stood to row, might have 
freer play. Of these the full complement was thirty,'^ 

contrary : " The common statement which attributes our love of the sea to 
the coming of the Danes is a simple error. There never was a time when 
EngHshmen lost their love of the sea. The Danes revived the memory of 
their more vigorous clays, etc." (Making of England, p. 169.) 

' See description of ship discovered in Sandefjord, Good IVords, Septem- 
l)er, 1 88 1. 

' Eric the Red of Iceland, about 970, discovered Greenland. From 
Greenland the Norsemen made their way to the shores of Labrador, and 
down that coast they ran, until they came to Vinland Jiit gffSi (Vineland the 
good), which has been, with some probability, identified with the continent 
in the neighbourhood of Massachusetts or Rhode Island. (Dasent, Burnt 
Njal, Introduction, p. cxvi. ) 

^ Frithiof Saga, p. 73, Blackley's translation. 

* But there were even more sometimes. In the Sandefjord ship there 
were thirty-two oarsmen, sixteen on either side ; the oars found in this 



48 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES, 

and they composed from one-third to one-sixth of the 
whole crew. The prow was adorned with a figure-head, 
which, by its hideous and ferocious aspect, was believed 
to exercise an intimidating, if not an actually magical, 
influence upon the enemy, and corresponded to the 
similar ornaments seen to this day upon the ship of 
the New Zealander and other savage races. Before 
giving battle, painted shields were suspended over the 
vessel's side from a rim or rail that ran the whole length 
of the bulwarks.^ So too, the useful and ornamental 
were combined in the one large striped and variegated 
sail with which these ships were furnished. In size, the 
war galley, like the merchant vessel, greatly varied. 
The well-known example, lately exhumed at Sandefjord 
in Norway, measured eighty feet in length by sixteen 
and a half in width ; one which was discovered in the 
river Rother, county Sussex, was sixty feet in length, 
whilst the wreck (believed to be Danish) in the 
river Hamble, county Hants, shows the far greater 
length of 130 feet.^ Doubtless the dimensions of the 
ship ■ depended m.uch upon the rank and prowess of 
the captain. In a fleet of vessels, led by such chiefs 

ancient vessel were twenty feet long, and just like many that are used to 
this day on the coast of Norway ; no seats appear to have been provided for 
the rowers. A few beds were found on board this ship, low and short, 
extremely like those in present use in that country. (See Good Words, 
September, 1881.) 

' There appears to be some doubt whether these shields were for the 
purpose of defence, or solely for that of ornament, for, on the Sandefjord 
ship, were found a quantity of round painted shields made of thin wood, and 
certainly not intended for defence, but probably for hanging on the gunwale 
for show. {Good Words.') 

- For further account of viking's ship, see Norsemen in Iceland. 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 49 

as Hingvar and Hubba, many ma}' have been com- 
paratively small, whilst we can well fancy Hubba 
himself in command of some such ship as the famous 
Ellida, which was the gift of ^gir, God of Ocean, to 
Viking, and is celebrated in the verse of Frithiof Saga : 

" Far spread her lengthy keel ; her crest, like a serpent of ocean, 
High in the bows she reared ; her jaws were flaming with red gold. 
Sprinkled with gold ujDon blue was her beam ; astern at the rudder, 
Flapp'd she around her powerful tail, that glittered with silver ; 
Black were her pinions, bordered with red, and when they were bended, 
Vied she in speed with the loud roaring blast, and left eagles behind her. 
Saw ye her filled with warriors armed, your eyes would have fancied, 
Then to have seen a fortress at sea or the tower of a great king. 
Far was that ship renowned, and of ships the first in the Northland." ' 

Such were some of the vessels that brought these 
brave seamen to our shores, and struck terror into the 
heart of the degenerate Saxon at every point of the 
coast ; such were the ships witli which the inhabitants 
of our Lincolnshire sea-board were sadly familiar.^ 

If we watch these sailors disembark for their inland 
raids, we shall see that they are as well prepared to 
encounter the enemy on land as the storm at sea. The 
bow was not high in favour with them ; but they were 
adepts with sword and spear alike, while the huge two- 
handed battle-axe was their distinctive, as it Avas their 

* Frithiof Saga, translated by W. L. Blackley, pp. 22, 23. See also 
remarks on Swegen's fleet, and description of ship presented by Godwine 
to Harthacnut (Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 355, 511, 512). 

- In the larger fleets it is certain that many merchant ships were taken 
or pressed into the service of the vikings. " In the Danish -war expeditions 
the whole commercial marine of the North was turned into a navy." 
(Pearson's History of England during the Early and Middle Ages, vol. i. 
p. 159. See also Dasent's Norsemen in Iceland.) 

E 



50 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

most terrible, weapon.^ Every soldier carried a shield 
of sufficient size to cover the greater part of his body, 
whilst the leaders, in addition to this, wore a helmet and 
a shirt of mail. 

When they had fought their battles and laid aside 
their arms, you would have found them dressed in a 
short jacket or kirtle of coarse, woollen, grey stuff, and 
over this a sleeveless coat of the same material, with or 
without a hood ; a low-crowned, broad-brimmed, flap- 
ping hat would remind you of the modern wide-awake, 
which is possibly its direct descendant. The picture is 
completed by a shirt of linen (homespun, like the cloth), 
loose drawers, long hose, and high shoes, with long 
leathern thongs bound round the calf of the leg.^ 

If we ask what sort of houses these Danes built over 
the ruins of the homes they had burned, it is necessary 
to take into consideration the varying rank and wealth 
of the new settlers.^ 

At distant intervals buildings might rise of greater 
pretensions and larger size than the ordinary farmhouse 

* Called by early chroniclers seams Danica. (See Freeman, Norman 
Conquest, vol. i. p. 512, and note 3 and 4.) As late as the middle of the 
seventeenth century, the word densaix, i.e. Danish axe, was used in Scot- 
land. (See Jam., who quotes from Sir W. Scott : "A Danish axe was the 
proper name of a Lochaber axe, and from the Danes the Islesmen got 
them.") 

* Norsemen in Iceland, Oxford Essays, p. 172, 1858. See also Bishop 
of Nottingham's Danes in England, p. 43, ff. 

' For a detailed description of the Icelandic house see Dasent's Burnt 
Njal, Introduction. The details here given are principally from Dasent's 
Norsemen in Iceland, Oxford Essays, pp. 203-205, 1S58 ; also from 
Kingsley's Hereward, and Danes in Lincolnshire, by Bishop of Notting- 
ham, Lincoln Architectural Society's Report, p. 44, 1859. 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 5 1 

and peasant's cottage. Here and there a powerful 
Danish chief, or jarl, may have erected such a residence 
as Kingsley describes in his romance of Hereward, as 
the abode of the lords of Bourne ; — a large rambling 
edifice, mostly of one story high, stone below and 
timber above, with its hall in the centre and a strong 
tower behind the hall ; the main part of the structure 
encumbered with a number of lean-to buildings, having- 
each its separate function. But if such houses there 
were in the days of which we are speaking, they were, 
doubtless, few and far between. As a general rule, you 
would have found, in the bys and thorpes that sprang 
up on every hand, an edifice of solid timber with a few 
wattled huts clustering round it. The timber house of 
the substantial farmer was built upon the same general 
plan as the more pretentious and better fortified man- 
sion of the chief The house itself presented the pictur- 
esque front of a many-gabled structure, and was more 
like a collection of dwellings than a single tenement. 
Each several part of the house stood beneath its own 
gable roof ; and the many-pointed, irregular block may 
best be realized by bearing in mind that a substantial 
householder's dwelling consisted of porch, kitchen, store- 
house, living-room, bed-chamber, workshop, passage and 
bath-room. Generally detached, but sometimes joined 
to the farmhouse, were the farm buildings, the whole 
range standing within an enclosed space called the 
" tun " or " garth." Round the principal residence clus- 
tered the wattled huts of humble size and few con- 
veniences, but lighted, like the larger houses, by small 



52 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

windows, in which bladder, tightly stretched across a 
wooden framework, took the place of glass.-^ 

Looking out over the garth fence, and beyond the 
immediate precincts of the dwelling, wc must picture a 
few patches of cultivated land enclosed within a wall or 
dyke ; upon the open wold beyond are scattered the 
flocks of sheep, which, in spite of careful tending, too 
often fall a prey to the wolf ; in the forest glades large 
herds of swine are feeding upon acorns and beech-nuts, 
whilst in the richer pastures of the valley, or in the fen 
border below the wold, arc grazing the mares and foals, 
which form one of the most cherished portions of the 
settler's heritage." For these strangers were, many of 
them, accomplished horsemen,^ and in this respect 
appear to have stood in marked contrast to the Saxon. 
Their near kinsmen in Normandy developed the finest 
chivalry of Europe ; and it has been pointed out as a 
significant fact that the greatest horse fairs in England 
are still held at Horncastle and Howden, — one in Lin- 
colnshire, the other in Yorkshire, but both alike in the 
very heart of Danish England."^ 

And now, if we turn for a moment to that part of 
the scene which is supplied by nature, we find that, while 
much remains to us, much has for ever passed away. 
To begin with, the fens upon which our Danish fore-elders 

* Danes in Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Architectural Society's Report,, 
p. 44, 1859. 

" C. Kingsley, Hereward the Wake. 

^ It was no uncommon thing for a viking's horse to travel with him. 
cross the sea. 

' Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. li. p. 434, noet. 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 53 

looked from their upland homes, and into which, per- 
haps, they sometimes descended for purposes of plunder, 
are no more. The vast mere, studded with the island 
homes of English colonists, which stretched from Horn- 
castle and Spilsby to Ramsey and Huntingdon, has 
disappeared, and given place to one of the richest 
agricultural districts in England. As we contemplate the 
never-ending fields of corn and mustard and potato in 
our railway journey from Huntingdon to Firsby, we can 
scarcely repress a sigh after the beds of osier and sedge, 
which were so much more natural, if far less profitable. 
We perhaps confess that things arc better as they are ; 
yet we cannot dissemble our regret at the change. 
Gladly would we recall the waterfowl that have taken 
their flight from these regions, never to return, save in 
the form of a rare and occasional visitant, coming, we 
may fancy, as the representative of an "exiled race to 
weep over the progress of the plough, and then too often 
to be ruthlessly butchered by the gun, — an abomination 
of desolation unknown to the swans and ruffs and 
oyster-catchers of happier days, when birdstuffers and 
museums were as yet unborn. Again, as we picture to 
ourselves the lovely insects, which, after swarming for 
ages amid the willows and water-plants of Lincolnshire, 
have become lost not only to the county, but to Eng- 
land, within the memory of living men ; or when, in 
some rich herbarium, we examine the faded specimens 
of aquatic plants, whose place in the British Isles knows 
them now no more, how can we help longing to look out 
upon the scene that met the eye of Asgeir, Askr, and Hun- 



54 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

dolf/ as they gazed from their new abodes over Stichenai^ 
and Sibolsey^ to Botulfston^ and Swinesheafod^ beyond ? 

Even as late as the end of last century, Arthur 
Young, in his survey of agriculture, tells us that, accom- 
panied by Sir Joseph Banks, he proceeded in a boat to 
the heart of the East Fen,^ which had the appearance of 
a chain of lakes, bordered by a forest of the common 
reed {Arundo phragmites). He found the water, generally 
speaking, from three to four feet deep, — in one place (a 
channel between two of these lakes) from five to sixJ 
Growing in the peaty bogs of this fen, besides the Teu- 
criiim scordiwn, which is yet to be found in two or three 
English counties, he met with the still scarcer Sonchiis 
paliistris 2svA Cineraria paliistris, which, after surviving to 
our own day, seera to have been virtually exterminated 
by the engineer, who turned Whittlesea Mere into dry 
land. 

And if the fens, which these Danish settlers over- 
looked, are gone, the uplands on which they lived have 
undergone vast changes since their day. 

Comparatively little now remains of the wolf-haunted 
forests, which at that time skirted the fens and fringed the 
wolds. And as for these Avoids, if old Grim and Kctil 
and Asbjorn could rise from their barrow-graves and 



* These names are preserved in Asgarby, Ashby, and Hundleby. 

' Stickney (D. B., Stichenai). ' Sibsey (D. B., Sibolci). 

^ Boston. ^ Swineshead. 

^ That portion of the county where now are situated the parishes of 
East Ville, New Leake, etc. 

' Arthur Young, General View of the Agriculture of the County of 
Lincoln, 1799. 



THE DANE AND HIS ENGLISH HOME. 5$ 

look upon the downs, over which they swept, plunder- 
ing, burning, murdering as they went, they would find 
it almost difficult to recognize the scene. True it is, 
we look on many of the same natural features that met 
their eye ; the hows and barfs and dales remain to us ; the 
selfsame becks are still running on their way towards 
the ocean that the vikings knew so v/ell ; we may still 
trace some of the nesses they used to sight along the 
sea-shore and Humber side; but what would these North- 
men say to three hundred acres of barley waving within 
a single dyke, where once the hare and bustard held 
imdisputed sway amid the golden gorsc ? ^ 

The red deer which then roamed freely over the 
moors, and whose bones and antlers are found in the 
bed of every Lincolnshire beck, are now represented by 
a few carefully tended descendants in Grimsthorpe Park. 
The wolf,2 the wild boar,"' and the wild cat'^ have dis- 
appeared. The pine marten and the badger have fared 
somewhat better in the struggle for existence ; yet they 
have now become so rare that, instead of occupying 

^ It is doubtful whether the rabbit, which has in later times abounded 
upon the wolds, was plentiful in any part of England a thousand years ago. 
It appears to have been introduced by the Romans, but there is reason to 
believe that at a date much later than is here referred to, rabbits were by 
no means abundant. It is supposed to be of African origin, and that Spain 
was its first European habitat. 

- Wolves became extinct in England about 1500; they were common 
long after this date both in Scotland and Ireland. (Sec Harting's Extinct 
British Animals, pp. 115-205.) 

^ The exact date when the wild Ijoar became extinct cannot be ascer- 
tained ; probably towaixls the end of the seventeenth century. (See 
Harting, pp. 100-102.) 

•* The wild cat is now probably confined to the north of Scotland. 



56 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

every holt and slope, their appearance is hailed with 
delight by the naturalist, and becomes the subject of 
discussion in the pages of the Field. 

But while much, very much, has gone,' and much 
more is going, it is a thought full of interest that so 
many natural objects remain to connect the present with 
the past. As we gather the wayside flowers, there is 
pleasure in the recollection that they are sprung from 
those which Britons, Romans, Saxons, and Danes have 
plucked before us. As we wander through the woods 
that still remain, is there no interest in the thought that, 
where the English squire now shoots the rabbit and the 
pheasant, our rude forefathers hunted the wild boar, and 
waged hereditary warfare with the wolf.^ It may be 
mere sentiment, but, as we hear the shrill whistle of the 
curlew, or watch the marshalled ranks of wild geese, as 
they fly from the salt marsh to the wolds, we find 
pleasure in the remembrance that Geirmund and Ulfric 
saw the same sights a thousand years ago. It may be 
mere sentiment, yet it is sentiment springing from the 
living sympathy that knits one generation to another, 
and that forms a bond between man and the world of 
nature that ministers to his wants. It is the sentiment 
that inspired Danish bards to pour forth many of their 
thoughts in the ancient Norse ; it is the sentiment that 
has drawn forth the full sweetness of the English tongue 
from their great successor, the present poet laureate, 
who first saw light in the pleasant village of the wold, 
where Somerledc, the Northman, made his English 
home, and left his name. 



CHAPTER IV. 

RECORDS OF IMYTHOLOGY. 

' When Denmark's raven soar'd on high, 
Triumphant, through Northumbrian sky, 
***** 
And the broad shadow of her wing 
Blacken 'd each cataract and spring, 
***** 
Beneath the shade the Northmen came, 
Fix'd on each vale a Runic name, 
Rear'd high their altar's rugged stone 
And gave their gods the land they won.'' 



Rokeby. 



Words have been called fossil thoughts, fossil poetry, 
fossil history ; and to this definition, proper names, which 
are simply words of designation, often answer with 
peculiar fitness. Just as the petrified fish or fern still 
tells us something of the physical life of the past, so 
words (and therefore names) survive to record the 
progress, moral as well as material, of the human race. 
The present chapter will deal with what we may almost 
call the fossil relics of a religion, which once held sway 
over all the nations of Northern Europe, and has left 
memorials of many sorts upon the ground we tread. 
The only kind of memorial we are now concerned with 



S8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

is a certain class of place-names, which have preserved 
some record of the gods that the Northmen worshipped, 
when first they took possession of their Lincolnshire 
homes. 

Go where we ma}-, we shall find the very soil beneath 
our feet, thus bearing witness to the religions of the 
world.^ The faded splendour of Athens recalls the 
ancient worship of Athene ; the buried city of Hercu- 
laneum still speaks of the divine honours once paid to 
Hercules. Baalbek, with its imposing ruins, is one of 
the many cities which have localized the sun worship of 
the past. The Jew confessed his faith as often as he 
spoke of Bethel, -while Christiania and St. Petersburg 
record the spread of Christianity. So, too, wherever 
Teuton or Northman might carry his conquests and 
make his home, there you find the records of his faith 
and worship. The Danish local names in Lincolnshire,, 
which enshrine some relics of a departed superstition, 
are neither few nor far between. 

It was not long, indeed, before the Danes, who 
settled in England, deserted their pagan shrines for the 
faith of Christ. Hands that had no scruple, in the days 
of Hingvar and Hubba, in burning churches and 
monasteries, in scattering relics and seizing the sacred 
vessels of Christian Avorship, were soon busy in hewing 
the Runic crosses,^ which have been found here and 

' Taylor's Words and Places, chap. xiii. 

* A portion of the shaft of a very interesting Runic cross serves as a 
lintel in the Norman doorway, leading from the tower to the nave, in the 
church at Crowle. On it, besides several figures, is a Runic inscription, 
which Dr. Moore, of Hastings, pronounced to be "in Saxonizcd Danish, more 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 59 

there within the Hmits of the county, and some of 
which, as if to illustrate the religious bond that soon 
united Northman and Englishman, have been built into 
church walls, and to this day commemorate the con- 
version of the Dane.-^ When, however, these vikings 
first arrived, a worship Vv'hich had ceased to have any 
hold upon our country for at least two hundred years ^ 
was once more set up. Altars were again raised to Thor 
and Odin, and, for the last time in the history of 
England, men died fighting upon her shores in the firm 
belief that the blows they struck were their passport to 
Valhalla. 

Danish than Saxon.'" Subsequent research, however, threw doubt upon his 
rendering. The crevices of this stone, when the mortar had been removed 
from a portion, were found to contain the pulverized remains of some sort of 
moss (probably Tortida rmtralis), denoting a long period during which this 
monument had stood in the open air, before it became part of a twelfth- 
century church. Portions of stone, exhibiting work of a similar character, 
are built into the walls of the church at Humberstone, Hubba's landing- 
place. A fine example was found in the old hall at Northorpe, and also a 
fragment in pulling down the church porch at Kirton in Lindsey. (See 
Paper by Rev. J. T. Fowler, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 
vol. iv. p. 187, December 17, 1S68 ; and some further remarks, p. 378.) 

* Although the conversion of the Northmen was both general and rapid, 
the superstition they abandoned appears to have made some reprisals. The 
legislation of A.D. 100S-1009 has to deal with the fact of heathenism in 
England. " Heathenism is to be cast out ; an ordinance which shows 
what had been the effect of the Danish invasions. Such a precept would 
have been needless in the days of Offa and Ine. But now not only were 
there many heathen strangers settled in the land, but we may even believe 
that some native Englishmen may have fallen off to the worship of the 
gods Avho seemed to be thesti-onger." (E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, 
vol. i. p. 364.) 

- The South Saxons were the last of the German settlers in England to 
adopt the Christian faith. These were converted «;r. 6S0 by Bishop Wil- 
frid during his exile from Northumbria. (See Green's Making of England, 
P- 376.) 



60 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Wc must be upon our guard against supposing that 
(except in a few, and then somewhat doubtful cases) 
the places about to be considered were named after the 
gods themselves. For the most part certainly, the 
localities were called after the persons who settled in 
them ; ^ but the personal names of these Northmen, like 
those of every race, were frequently borrowed from the 
traditions and poems, which told of an unseen world, 
and of the sacred persons who peopled it. 

Odin,^ the Scandinavian form of the German Woden 
(still familiar to our ears in Wednesday), was the chief, 
though not the most popular, among the gods of the 
North. He was the great All-Father of our Teutonic 
ancestors. The form of Woden survives, more or less 
corrupted and disguised, in many names, both of places 
and persons.'^ Odin, the Scandinavian form, is more 
scarce, and (at least so far as place-names are concerned) 
is found only in that part of the country, which was 
colonized by the Northmen. As, in Denmark and 
Norway,'^ we find such names as Odinsve and Odins-salr, 

' See O. Rygli, Minder om Gudeine, p. 6. With regard to the whole 
subject of place-names connected with heathen gods and their worship, this 
author remarks that the interpretation must often be regarded as unsafe, 
and that future inquiry will overthrow many present conclusions. 

" For a full account of Odin, see Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (Stally- 
])rass), chap. vii. 

* For personal names see Ferguson's English Surnames, p. 32 ; for 
names of places in England, Taylor's Words and Places, p. 215 ; J. R. 
Green, Making of England, p. 168. For a more general survey of place- 
names connected with Odin, sec Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), 
pp. 152, 157, 158. 

■* The Danes and Gotlanders were more devoted to the worship of Odin 
than were their neighljours in Norway and Sweden. (Grimm's Teutonic 
Mythology, p. 160.) 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 6l 

SO in Cumberland, colonized by the Norwegians, we 
come upon Oddendalc, whilst in Lincolnshire, peopled 
by the Danes, we twice meet with the name of Owmby, 
which Domesday Book shows to be the very natural 
corruption of Odinby.^ Odin, as a personal name, was so 
uncommon, that there is some ground for believing that 
Owmby or Odinby may have been thus called after the 
god himself, to mark the spot where a temple stood in 
his honour.^ It seems, however, on the whole, far more 
probable that these villages received their designation 
from weak mortals who bore the title of the Father of 
the gods, and who, as Domesday Book shows, handed 
down their name to future generations.^ 

Odin had many subordinate or supplementary titles, 
which men, from motives of pride or piety, \vere not 
slow to adopt as personal names. 

Gunnr, zvarlike, was one of these titles. The fierce 
Northmen loved to think of their great Unseen Father 

' D. B., Odenebi. The li-ansition to the modern Owmby is illustrated 
.by C. I. Outhenby, C. R. C. Outhemby, Test. Nev. Oudneby, C, I. 
Ougneby. So we find that the modern Onsale and Onsild in Denmark 
are mentioned as Othsensale and Otha:nshyllce in L. C. D. 

" Unlilce Rygh (see above), Grimm contends that where the name of 
Odin is found in place-names, it is the god, and not the human namesake, 
who gave the name to the spot. "It is very unlikely that they should be 
due to men bearing the same name as the god, instead of the god himself; 
Wuoton, Odinn, as a man's name does occur, h\\\. not often, and the mean- 
ing of the second half of the compounds, ix. the suffixes, and their reapjicar- 
ance in various regions are altogether in favour of their being attributable 
to the god." (Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), p. 157.) Among these 
suffixes by does not appear, which strongly favours the view that Owmby 
owes its name to the settler himself and not to his god. 

' There was an Odin carl who held lands in Lincolnshire at the time of 
the Survey. 



62 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

as a mighty warrior, and for this reason, as would be 
expected, the name of Gunnr was high in favour among 
the Danes and other branches of the Scandinavian race. 
It is one that is frequently found in the Icelandic 
Landnamabok, and it took root in Lincolnshire in more 
than one place. Gunby near Alford, Gunthorpe in the 
Isle of Axholme, Gunness on the Trent,^ Gonerby near 
Grantham,^ Gonerby near Barnoldby le Beck, and 
Grainsby (which is apparently the corruption of 
Gunnersby),^ attest the popularity of this name among 
the vikings and their followers. 

In Gautr^ we have a poetical synonym for Odin, 
which apparently signifies _/(7;//^^r, and this, too, was freely 
transferred to Odin's human offspring. The name was 
a very common .one amongst the Northmen,^ and in 
Lincolnshire is probably represented at Gautby, near 
Horncastle, which may be compared with Gautsdalr and 
Gautavi'k in Iceland. 

Vili,'' expressive of the Divine will, was sometimes 

' Now often called and written Gunhouse, and appears in one of the 
latest maps Gunhouses. This corruption dates from an early period, for in 
the R.C. we find it written Gunusse as well as Gunesse. In C.R.C. it is 
Gunneys. Tradition appears to have connected this place with the Danish 
conquest in a somewhat remarkable manner. "A person once informed 
the editor's father that Gunhouse got its name from the Danes having 
lodged their guns there." (Peacock, jNI. and C. Glossary, p. 178.) 

* This is Gunfordebi in D. B. Alost likely Hundred Rolls gives us the 
original in Gunwardby. 

' D. B., Gunresbi and Grenesbi. Cf. Gunnarsbcer, Icelandic. 

* See Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), p. 164 ; also CI. and 
Vigf. Diet., sub voce; cf. Godeby, Leicestershire, D. B, Goutebi; otherwise 
Gawdebi, Gaudebi. 

* See Landnamabok. 

* Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, p. 162. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 6^ 

identified with Odin, sometimes described as his brother. 
This name is most hkely preserved to us in our Wil- 
loughbys ^ and our Wilksby.^ 

Grimsby, the emporium of the modern fishing trade, 
might more reasonably have been expected to preserve 
some memorial of yEglr, the ocean god, than of any 
other divinity. But the many Norsemen who called 
themselves Grimr, in so doing, assumed one of the 
numerous titles of Odin." The name does not, as is 
generally thought, signify the fierce courage characteristic 
of the Northern race, but alludes to the dissfuise,* 
beneath the shelter of which, Odin, the All-Father, per- 
formed many of his most singular feats. Besides the 
Dane, who had the honour of naming what has become 
the most populous town in the county, another Gri'mr 
made his home at Little Grimsby, which has shown no 
such signs of growth during the thousand years of its 
existence. Gn'mr also enters into the composition of 

1 D. B., Wilgebi. 

* D. B., Wilchesbi. Wilsthorpe cannot be included, as it appears to be 
the contraction of Wivelsthorpe, as Weelsby is of Wivelsby, and Wilsford 
of Wivelsford. So in Leicestershire, Willesley is Wivelsley, D. B. 

* The British derivation suggested by Mr. Smith in his translation of 
D. B. Gra = sacred, mczs = entrenched mounds, diej/ = dwelling, is fanciful 
and improbable to the last degree, although, strangely enough, it is adopted 
by the Rev. J. Wild in his paper on ancient Grimsby. (Lincoln Archi- 
tectural Society Report, p. 205, 1878.) The assumption of the latter 
writer, that if Grimsby is to be derived from Grime, the same individual 
must have founded Little Grimsby, Grimsthorpe, Grimoldby, and Grimble- 
thorpe, is not only perfectly gratuitous, Grimr being a very common personal 
name, but involves the confusion of such different names as Grimr, Grimaldr, 
Grimbald. Grimsthorpe has nothing to do with Grimr, being a corruption 
of Germundtorp. Cf. Grainsthorpe = Germundthorp. 

* From griiiia, a hood or cowl. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet.) 



64 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Grimblethorpe, which was, perhaps, originally Gn'mkell- 
thorpe,^ and of Grimoldby, which must originally have 
been the home of Grimaldr. 

We pass to another, and that the most popular of 
the gods of the North. Although Odin possessed the 
nominal supremacy, the chief honours of worship were 
reserved for Thorr. His statue, in the form of a naked 
man, occupied the central position, and towered above 
the images on either side. His right hand held a 
sceptre, and his left seven stars. He was the god of 
thunder, and presided in the air. He was the friend 
of mankind, and the defender of the earth ; his hammer 
was the sacred symbol with which the infant was signed, 
when his parent had judged him fit to live. On the 
fifth day of the week (Thor's day), sacrifices were offered 
to this god that he might protect his votaries from 
unfavourable weather and other catastrophes. 

A glance at the county map will show that this name 
was not uncommon amongst the Danes, who reached 
our coasts in the ninth centun-. We have North and 
South Thoresby and Thoresthorpe, a hamlet of Saleby. 
Thorgrim took possession of Thorganby,^ whilst one 
Thorulf settled at Thurlby^ near Alford, and another 
made his home at Thurlby near Newark. Lastly, there 



^ R. C, ClrinkeUhorpe; C. T.T. .Grimchiltorp. C'ln'mkell and Grimbald 
were both common names. The latter still survives in Lincolnshire as 
Grimble. D. B., Grimbakl and Grimbaldus. Grimbald Crac held lands in 
Lincolnshire, temp. Edward the Confessor. 

- D. B., Torgrembi, Torgribi, Turgribi. In PI. A. it figures as Thor- 
grayby and Thorngranby 

3 D. B., Turolvebi. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 65 

was a Thoraldulf,^ whose name and dwelling-place are 
represented by Thurlby, near Bourne. 

In such names as Friesthorpe, Firsby {i.e. Friseby), 
and Friezeland, we may possibly have a record of Freyr, 
the god of fertility. So it has been thought by some,- 
but it is much more likely that they have been intro- 
duced by Frisian colonists.^ 

Kari was god of the winds, own brother to Logi, 
god of fire, and to ^gir, god of ocean. It was natural 
that the viking, whose home was so often upon the 
waters, and therefore at the mercy of the storm, should 
cherish a peculiar veneration for the deity who held the 
winds in his hand ; and we may infer that this god had 
a distinguished place among the Penates of the ocean 
wanderer. However this may have been, Kari was 
thought a name of good omen for the viking's 
child, and was in frequent use. Careby,^ near Stam- 

' So at least we may infer from the mention of this place in D. B. as 
Turoldvebi, which shows the process of abbreviation to have already set in. 

- E.g. Edmunds, Names of Places, p. 175. 

^ The only suffix which at all favours an association with the god Freyr 
is that of Friezeland, where huid might be the hi7idr or sacred grove of the 
Northmen. " By every korp- (i.e. altar) or temple there w^as a sacred grove 
or a solitary tree, on which the offerings were suspended." (B. Thorpe, 
Northern Mythology, vol. i. p. 212. See also iiifra, remarks on London- 
Ihorpe. ) It may further be noticed that in Norway no gods appear to be 
so often associated with place-names as Frey and Freyja. (See Rygh, 
Minder om Guderne, pp. 7, 13, 14, etc.) 

'* If this were derived from Old Norse Kjarr (our Lincolnshire car), 
copsewood, it is not likely that the e would have been inserted. It would 
be Carby, not Careby. For the same reason it is moi-e likely to represent 
the personal name Kari, which is common in Landndmabok, than Karr, 
which also occurs, though much less frequently, in the same volume. I.-. 
Kari the original of the iMother Carey of our sailors ? 

F 



66 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

ford, shows that one at least of this name occupied a lead- 
ing place among the Danes who settled in the county. 

^gir/ god of the ocean, has already been mentioned, 
and it may be generally thought that no other heathen 
deity has established so firm a footing in Lincolnshire. 
It is well known that the tidal wave in this county is 
called the Eagre,^ and the ocean god has usually been 
credited with the introduction of this provincialism. 
" Curious," says Carlyle in his chapter on Scandinavian 
mythology, " curious that word surviving like the peak 
of a submerged world." ^ Interesting the survival un- 
doubtedly is, but it is at least doubtful whether the 
Norse god can claim the honour of it. It is certainly a 
remarkable fact, and one that might seem well to sup- 
port the current view, that the term should now be used 
in reference to those rivers^ with which the Northmen 
were best acquainted ; but it appears that in the time 
of William of Malmsbury, this phenomenon, now known 
as the Bojr, was called the Hygre,^ upon the banks of 
the Severn. We may thus conclude that the word was 
once in more general use than at the present day ; " and 

' Not CEgir, as it is often spelt {e.g. Stallybrass's translation of Grimm's 
Teutonic Mythology). See CI. and Vigf. Diet., ALgir. 

* It is variously spelt ; eagre perhaps is the commonest form. 

^ Lectures on Heroes, p. 29 ; see also CI. and Vigf. Diet. ; also Odinic 
Songs in Shetland, Nineteenth Century, June, 1879. 

•* Trent, Ouse, Witham, and Welland. 

^ See Camden's Britannia, vol. i. p. 280. 

" The word is perhaps best known to the ordinary world from its use in 
Jean Ingelow's High Tide — 

" And rearing Lindis backward pressed 
Shook all her trembling bankes amaine, 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 6/ 

the simple fact is that we go out of our way for a deri- 
vation in calling the gods to our aid, when the Saxon 
word eagor, or cgor (ocean),^ affords a more natural 
explanation. 

Harmston, six miles south of Lincoln, has hardly- 
done its duty in preserving the memory of one of the 
most amiable of the gods, or that of the Dane, who 
settled on the spot and called it Hermodestun.^ Her- 
modr, according to the Edda, is the dauntless son of 
Odin, and acts as herald to the gods. He it is who 
rides to the abode of death to offer a ransom for the 
lamented Balder ; it is he who encounters the giant 
Rosstioph ^ amid the fens of Finland, and forces from 
him a knowledge of the future, which was denied to 
the father of the gods ; and of many other romantic 
adventures is Hermodr the hero. 

That Harmston is of Danish,^ rather than English 
origin, is not only suggested by the personal name of 

Then madly at the Eygre's breast 
Flung up her weltering walls again." 

The Lindis is the more ancient name of the river Witham. "The river 
Lindis fleatith a little above Lincoln towne." (Leland's Itineraiy, vol. i. 
P- 32.) 

^ See Skeat, Etymological Dictionary. Trofessor O. Rygh has kindly 
informed me that Aigir has never been used in Scandinavia, to express the 
sweep of the tidal wave up a river ; and, like Mr. Skeat, he adduces Anglo- 
Saxon egor as the source of our provincialism. 

^ D. B., Hermodestun. In Tax. Eccl, it is Herimeston, which'indicates 
the transition from the original to the present form. 

^ I.e. Horse-thief. 

* Tun is as truly a Scandinavian word as English, though not so freely 
used by the Norsemen as a suffix in place-names. The home-field in Ice- 
land is still called tlie tiln. 



68 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Hermodr, which is especiall}-, though not exclusively, 
Norse, but also by the fact that, in a still more con- 
tracted form, the very same name, with a Danish suffix, 
is found in Hanthorpe,^ a hamlet of Morton, near Bourne. 
In Bilsby we come into contact with the goddess 
Bil, to whom the illustrious Billing family traced their 
descent. And this goddess may have peculiar interest 
for us from the fact that she possibly survives in 
our nurseries to this day. Bil, according to Norse 
mythology, was one of two children carried from the 
earth to the moon. " Mani directs the course of the 
moon. He once took up two children, Bil and Hjuki, 
from the earth, as they were going from the well of 
Byrgir, bearing on their shoulders the bucket soeg." ^ 
Modern criticism has not only discovered in this myth 
the notice taken by our forefathers of the connection 
between the moon and the tides,^ but has also traced 
our nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill, with their pail of 
water, to its origin in Bil and Hjuki and their sacred 
bucket, sceg.* We shall probably never know the form 
in which this myth found expression amongst our distant 
ancestors, but while we tell the tale of Jack and Jill to 
our children, and thus use the ideas of an infant world 
to amuse the infants of our own nurseries, it cannot but 

' D. B., Hennodestorp. Hanthorpe sounds very remote from Hermods- 
thoi-pe, but much of the difficuUy is removed by the intermediate forms of 
Hermerthorp and Hermethorp of the Hundred Rolls. 

- Thorpe's Northern Mythology, vol. i. p. 6. 

^ Bil represents the ebb, and /iji'ski the flow of the tide. Or it may be 
that the allusion is to the rainfall as affected by the moon. 

■• For this interpretation of the myth, see Baring Gould's Curious Myths 
of the Middle Ages, p, 201, 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 6g 

add interest to the doggerel lines to think that, in some 
form or other, they made one of 

" The quaint old songs our fathers sung 
In Derby dales and Yorlcshire moors, 
Ere Norman ^^'illiam trod our shores.'" ' 

The names of Beelsby,^ Broxholme, and Brocklesby,^ 

' There is an ancient Danish family named Bille, surviving to the present 
day, which claims traditional connection with a dwarf called Billin"-, who 
was, in his turn, in some way associated with the goddess Bil. The tradition 
is that in a season of long continued drought, a dwarf of shaggy aspect 
presented himself, with a tree torn up by the roots in his hand, to the 
founder of this family, and undertook to indicate a spot, where mills mifdit be 
built that should never lack water to turn their wheels. This tradition is still 
jDreserved in the family escutcheon, which contains the representation of a 
dwarf or wild man. Curiously enough, this family tradition is not without 
its nineteenth-century echo, and what has happened within the last few 
years in Lincolnshire and other counties might lead us to think that fabulous 
tradition, like sober history, has a tendency to repeat itself. Not many 
years ago, the farmers on the Lincolnshire wold were visited by a mysterious 
individual, who claimed the power of detecting hidden treasures of water by 
means of an ashen stick or winchel rod held, in his hand. Did we live in 
an age of superstition and witchcraft, how natural that such a visit should 
leave behind a tradition of some mighty wizard, who opened unsuspected 
springs upon the driest portions of the hill country ! Possibly, too, the 
credit given by many thoroughly practical men to the claim of the modern 
water-finder, may make us hesitate before we consign the traditional bene- 
factor of the Bille family to the region of unmixed fable. (For this Danish 
tradition, see Thorpe's Northern Mythojogj', vol. ii. p. 238. The Divininn- 
Rod is discussed in an article of the Conihill Magazine, January, 1883, in 
which no absolute conclusion is arrived at, but scepticism strongly prevails. 
See, also Baring Gould's Curious I\Iyths of the ^liddle Ages, p. 54; 
Kelly's Curiosities of Indo-European Folk Lore, etc.) 

- Beli, a giant slain by Freyr. The name is connected with Old Norse 
belia, to bellow. Beel, to bellow or cry out, is a word still in common use 
in Lincolnshire and in the North generally. The name Beli is found as 
that of a manumitted serf. Cod. Dip. Sax., No. 971. (See Ferguson's 
Surnames, p. 71.) With Beelsby cf Beilby, D. B. Belebi, in Yorkshire. 

^ Brok, a dwarf noted for skill in working metals. But perhaps Brox- 
holme refers to the presence of the liadger {brokkr), or, possibly again, of 
coarse black grass {hrok). Cf. Brokey. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 81.) 



JO LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

might lead to a notice of giants and dwarfs, who, as a 
matter of course, took a prominent part in the mythology 
of the Norsemen, and hve in the pages of the Ed da ; 
but we forbear. 

From sacred persons we may turn to the sacred 
things of which our county map has kept the record. 
And we shall find that this record, like that which has 
been occupying our thoughts, arises chiefly from the 
taste displayed by Danes for deriving their own personal 
names from a mythological source.^ 

We begin with the ash tree. It is impossible to say 
how many of our numerous Ashbys were so called from 
the personal name Askr (extremely common among the 
Northmen) ; how many, on the other hand, from trees 
found or planted on the spot. However this may be, 
the ash, of all trees, possessed the strongest claim to 
reverence among the Scandinavian races, inasmuch as it 
was more intimately bound up than any other with their 
religious faith. The w^onderful tree Yggdrasil, which 
encircled and embodied the world, was an ash. The 

To these, perhaps, might be added Raventhorpe, a corruption of Ragnilds- 
thorpe. Regin, a poetical synonym for the heavenly powers, was also the 
name of a dwarf. It is found in many compound personal names, but 
generally in the contracted form of Ragn or Rogn. RaventhoriDe is 
Rageneltorp in D. B. In a forged deed (Cod. Dip. Sax., No. 984) purport- 
ing to be by King Wulfere of Mercia, but in reality of much later date, it 
appears as Ragenildetorp, while in Test. Nev. it is Ragnilthorp. There 
can be little doubt that Ragn-hildr (a female name) was the original settler, 
who gave a name to the place ; and we thus have an instance of a Danish 
laily who, at some very early period, was in possession of a Lincolnshire 
estate. 

^ A list of Old Norse names, such, for instance, as the Landnamabolc 
affords, will show at a glance that as many names were connected with 
sacred tilings as with sz.Qx&di persons. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 7 1 

first man was made by the combined action of Odin, 
Haenir, and LoSur, from an ash tree. The most powerful 
protection from witchcraft was the presence of this same 
tree. For this last reason, the Norseman, witli his firm 
beHef in the black arts, would as naturally plant the ash 
tree round his house, as a gardener would set a scarecrow 
upon his onion bed (possibly with much the same result) ; 
and it may be an interesting question, whether the 
remarkable abundance throughout the county of this 
particular tree (known as the Lincolnshire Aveed) be not, 
in part, due to this ancient superstition.^ At least, we 
ma}^ be sure that, both for its useful qualities and its 
sacred associations, its growth would be encouraged by 
the new settlers. 

The wolf, though driven from our county, has found 
a permanent place upon our county map. It was partly, 
no doubt, because the savage and predaceous nature of 
the animal was congenial to the temper of the Norse- 
man, that the wolf figured largely in his family register. 
Styling themselves sea-wolves, as, bent upon plunder, 

* The curious superstition which prevails in some parts of Lincohishirc 
in regard to the mountain ash (quite a distinct tree from the common ash), 
might appear at first sight to be a distorted relic of this ancient belief. The 
mountain ash, or rowan, is firmly believed in by some as a protection against 
witchcraft. In this belief it is called the wicken tree. Small twigs of it 
ai-e carried in the pocket as a counteracting spell to the evil eye ; they ai^e 
put into stacks as a protection against fire, and on the top of the churn, 
when the butter won't come. (See M. and C. Glossary, p. 275.) In truth, 
however, the two superstitions appear to have little or no connection, since 
that which is attached to the rowan tree has come down to us almost 
unaltered from heathen times. (See Thorpe's Northern Mytholog}', vol. i. 
pp. 211 and 253.) For many interesting superstitions concerning this tree, 
see Tamieson, roiin tree. 



72 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

they swept over the world, it was no wonder that these 
vikings should confer the name of Ulfr upon their 
cliildren. But the name found favour, too, because the 
wolf was consecrated to Odin. According to the popular 
belief, the Father of the gods was always accompanied 
by two of these animals, Geri and Freki, which he fed 
with his own hand, throwing to them every morsel of 
food that appeared on his table, except only the wine, 
Vvdiich was reserved for his own use and formed his 
only sustenance. No other animal occupies so high a 
place in the nomenclature of the Northern nations, find- 
ing favour, as it did, Vv'ith German and Norseman alike. 

We know that at least two Danes of this name 
settled in Lincolnshire, one at Ulceby^ (Ulfsbi) near 
Alford, the other at Ulccby near Barton-upon-Humber.- 
But Ulfr also entered into a great variety of compound 
names, some few of which have left their traces upon our 
soil. Usselby,^ near Market Rasen, was known to our 
fathers as Osulfbi. In the days of the Hundred Rolls 
it had been reduced to Oselby, and now, in our still more 
corrupted form of Usselby, it is difficult to recognize the 
dignity of the original. 

' D. B., Ulvesbi. 

- Welby, near Grantham, is also once mentioned in Domesday Book 
as Ulvesbi. 

' Usseiby isnot mentioned In J). B., except as Summerlede, whicli was, 
perhaps, adjacent. In the Hundred Rolls, PI. A., and C. R. C, it is 
Oselby. Osulf was not exclusively a Norse name, for there was a king of 
Northumbria so called in the eighth century. This grand old name has 
suffered a still greater indignity from the hand of time in Owston, Leicester- 
shire, which is the miserable remnant of Osulveston (D.B.) There is an 
Owston in Lincolnshire, but in D. B. this is Ostone, i.e. (most probably) 
Easton. Leland calls it Oxtun. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 'J'^ 

Again, there are two names much rcsembUng one 
another, Addlethorpe and Yaddlethorpe, which do not, 
in their present form, suggest aristocratic associations ; 
but when ancient records remove the mask and trans- 
figure Addle into Ardulfr, and Yaddle into Jadulfr,^ we 
can only regret the inexorable sense of convenience, 
which has made them what they are. So, too, when 
Domesday Book was compiled, Audleby, in Caistor, 
rejoiced in its integrity and appeared in the more 
intelligible form of Aldulvebi.^ These, however, are not 
the only names in which time and use have tried, but 
tried in vain, to exterminate the wolf Brattleby is the 
modern form of Bratulfbi or Bjartulfbi, Hundleby of 
Hundolfbi, Thealby of Thjodulfbi,^ Thurlby of Torulfbi 
and Toraldulfbi, Garthorp of Geirulftorp.'^ In Wools- 
thorpe, where Sir Isaac Newton first saw the light, wc 
have the meagre remains of Ulfstanetorp.^ Worlaby 
appears to be the natural, if not necessary, corruption of 
Ulfricby,*' since two places so called in ancient docu- 
ments, one near Brigg, the other near Tetford, have 

* Commonly found in the contracted form of Jalf ; cf. Hrolfr, from 
Hrodiilfr. 

- Or, it may be, the first syllable is correctly spelt in the modern form 
of Audleby, for Audolf was a common name. 

■* Theddlethorp looks very much like a corruption of Thjodulftorp, but 
in D. B. it is Tedlagestorp, etc. In the Hundred Rolls it is Thedelthorp. 
In a deed dated a.d. 1002, it appears as Deogendethorpe. 

* D. B., Gerulftorp; R. C, Geroldtorp ; PI. A. and I. K., Gerlethorp ; 
Hundred Rolls, Gerlthorp. 

^ So D. B. In Hundred Rolls it is Wlstorp. The corruption therefore 
had taken place between D. B. and Hundred Rolls, temp. Edward I. 

•* D. B., Wluricesbi. Other spellings, showing transitional stages, are 
WIrykeby, T. E. ; Wlfrikeby and Whikeby, Test. Nev. ; Ulrickby, C. I. 
(Henry IH.) ; Wolricby, C. I. (Edward I.). 



74 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

shared the same fate and been worn into the Worlabys 
of the present day.^ 

While the wolf was held sacred to Odin, the bear 
belonged to Thor. As Odin was attended by the wolf, 
so was Thor by the bear, and the name of Osbournby, 
near Sleaford, is the venerable witness to this super- 
stition. Asbjorn, or Osbjorn,'-^ was doubtless the equiva- 
lent of Thorbjorn. Both names are found in the 
Landnamabok, and survive amongst ourselves as Osborn 
and Thurburn. In Barnoldby^ and Barnetby, we also 
meet with the bear, which found almost as much favour 
as the wolf in the personal names of the North. 

In every age and among almost every people, the 
serpent has been an object, if not of worship, at least 
of superstitious dread. It was so among our Northern 
ancestors.* Loki, the evil genius of the Olympian 
council, was the parent of Jormungandr, the great 
serpent that encircled the earth and dispensed the wind 
and snow and rain. It was further taught that the 
human soul had the form of a snake, that a pit full of 

* From D. B. it would appear at first sight tliat the present Culverthorpe 
is to be identified with an ancient Leidulftorp. But as in other old docu- 
ments we meet with Kellwarthorp and Calewarthorp (Hundred Rolls), 
Cahvarthorpe (C. I.), Kilwardthorpe (C. R. C), we may infer that Leidulf- 
torp was an adjacent village, the name of which is now lost. There is a 
Kilverstone in Norfolk, which in D. B. appears as Culuertestuna (Munford, 
Local Names in Norfolk, p. 140). 

- Ass = a god ; but used with special reference to Thorr, who was 
Asa-Thorr, the god par excellence. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 46.) 

^ Barnoldby perhaps combines the wolf with the bear ; D. B., BernulflDi 
and Bernoldebi. In Hundred Rolls, Bornolby ; in PI. A., Bernolbi. 

* Although there is no distinct notice of worship paid to the serpent in 
the literature of the North, the personal name Ve^r-Ormr, holy serpent, 
would indicate that such there was. (CI. and Vifg. Diet., ji. 469.) 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 75 

snakes was the abode of the wicked after death, that it 
brooded over hidden treasures, together with a muUitude 
of other fables. Ormr, the Old Norse form of Anglo- 
Saxon tvyrin, was amongst the commonest of Scandi- 
navian names. It abounds in ancient records, and is 
stamped upon our county in the two Ormsbys, North 
and South. A tradition, which probably took its rise at 
an early period, tells of a huge serpent that devastated 
the village of South Ormsby, and was slain at the 
adjacent hamlet of Walmsgate. The same tradition 
appears in a somewhat different form in the history of 
Sir Hugh Bardolph, temp. Henry the First. Sir Hugh 
lived at Castle Carlton, then a town of some importance, 
and had a large estate comprising the lordships of 
Burwell, Tothill, Gayton, and Stewton. According to a 
very ancient court-roll, in the first year that Sir Hugh 
was lord of Castle Carlton, there reigned, at a town 
called Wormesgay, " a dragon in a lane in the feld 
that venomed men and bcstcs with his aire." Sir Hugh 
encountered and slew this monster.^ Its head was 
conveyed to the king, who changed Sir Hugh's name 
from Barde to Bardolph, and added a dragon to his 
family escutcheon.^ 

' This may be one of the latest of the many traditions wiiich connect the 
life of heroes with the destruction of monsters. " With all heroes giant- 
fighting alternates with dragon-fighting." (Grimm's Teutonic Mythology 
(Stallybrass), vol. ii. p. 531.) 

- For this tradition see Cough's Camden, vol. ii. p. 274. Cough states 
that the Wormesgay mentioned in the court-roll is in Norfolk, where the 
Bardolph family had property. But it is much more probable that the pre- 
sent farm of Wormegay in Gunby represents the scene of devastation by the 
dragon. This place appears in C. I. as Wormagaye. For the village of 



•jG LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

The raven shared with the wolf the honour of 
dedication to Odin ; and as the Father of the gods had 
his household wolves, Geri and Freki, so he kept two 
pet ravens, Huginn and Muninn,^ and was from this 
circumstance called the Raven god. This bird, held 
sacred by every Northern race, was regarded with 
j)eculiar reverence by the Scandinavians, who took their 
auguries from its croak and flight, hailing its presence in 
the hour of approaching battle as an omen of victory. 
Their war standard displayed a raven upon its folds, 
nor was it until 12 19 that the Danes exchanged this 
national emblem for the Cross.^ The name of Hrafn 
was extremely popular with the Norsemen, and the 
map shows that it was not unknown amongst the Danes 

this name in Norfolk sec ]\Iunforcl's Local Names in Norfolk ; in D. B. it 
is Wermegai, and ^Ir. Munford takes the suflix to be gd, gaii, a district. I 
know of no other case in Lincolnshire (unless it be Billinghay), in which this 
word gd has been preserved. " Gd means tlie territory of a tribe, and thus 
looks at land from an ethnological point of view, whereas shire is purely 
geographical." (E. A. Freeman, The Ga and the Shire, ]\IacmiUan^!^ 
Magazine, April, iSSo. See also Words and Places, pp. 88, 328.) It is, of 
course, easy to see that there has been a confusion between the names 
Walmsgate (or, rather, Walmsgar, as it always appears in early records) and 
Wormegaye, and that so the same story has been attached to both places. 

* Huginn, from hiigr, aniiniis, cogitatio ; muninn, from mitnr, mens. 
These ravens sit upon the shoulder of Odin and whisper in his ear what 
they see and hear. The raven was the messenger of the Greek Apollo, 
Avhilst to him, as to Odin, both wolf and raven were sacred. (Grimm's 
Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), p. 147.) 

- Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 63. Very full information is 
given in regard to the Raven standard by Mr. Worsaae, pp. 56-64. He 
believes that the raven is figured upon one of the flags represented in the 
tapestry of Bayeux ; also upon the coins of Northumbria. The present 
national emblem of Denmark is a white cross upon a scarlet ground. For 
the interesting history of the introduction of this emblem and the tradition 
■concerning it, see ^Murray's Handbook to Denmark, p. 12. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 7/ 

who took possession of Lincolnshire. Wc have an 
East and West Ravendale, a Ravensflect in East Stock- 
with, and, in the Fens, Ravenscleugh and Ravens- 
brook.^ 

Another common Danish name with sacred oriein 
and rehgious associations was Ketil. We should not 
naturally connect this name with the celestial regions, 
but it was part of the grotesque belief among the Norse- 
men that Thorr had wrested a huge kettle from the 
giant Hymir, in order that the gods might have a vessel 
becoming their station, in which to brew their beer. 
We need not wonder, therefore, that the Danes, who 
loved their cup of ale, should have rejoiced to turn this 
mighty cauldron into a personal name. Accordingly, 
we have it left to us in Kettlethorp, Kettleby, Kettle- 
bottoms,^ and in Ketsby, which is a very modern 
contraction of Kettlesby. Possibly in Thuttill Hill, near 
Revesby, we possess a remnant of the ancient Thorkell 
or Thorketil, which is still preserved in the familiar 
surname Thirkill. 

' No mention is here made of Raventhorpe (of which there are t\\o 
instances), because in ancient records the name is spelt Rageneletorp or 
Ragnildtoi'p, etc. (see above). Stulceley mentions a Ravensbank in the 
Fens, and suggests that it should be Roman's Bank, "because the Welsh 
]n-onunciation of Romain was Rhuffain ; and our English word i-iiffian is 
from this formation" ! In all probability the personal name of Hrafn 
(by no means exclusively the possession of the Northmen) will account for 
our Ravendales, etc., without having recourse either to the Danish standard 
or to the bird itself. Ravendale is sometimes pronounced in the neighbour- 
hood Randle. This abbreviation appears in a deed connected with Grimsby 
Abbey, 31 Henry VIH., Randale. For notice of Ravenser and Ravcn- 
serodd, in Yorkshire, see Chapter xii. 

- In Winteringham. 



78 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

To this part of our subject belong some names to 
which the prefix os or as gives a sense of sacredness or 
of divine ownership. Thus wc have Usselby (Osulfby), 
and Osbourneby, ah-eady noticed ; two Osgodbys/ two 
Asgarbys,^ Aswarby, Aswardby,^ Aslackby.^ To these 
may probably be added AswelV^ Asserby, and Aisby 
(D. B., Asebi). Some of these names are, both in their 
derivations and associations, extremely interesting, but 
it must suffice merely to draw the reader's attention 
to them. 

We proceed to indicate a few names, which may (for 
it is well to speak with hesitation) preserve the record of 
ancient dedication to religious purposes. Thus we may 
point to some probable instances of the root-word z>r, 

^ One of these, viz. the one near Market Rasen (Kirkby-cum-Osgodby), 
is also known as Angotby. This looks like a partial survival of the Old 
German form aiis for ihs, e.g. Ansgar = Oscar. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., 

p. 46-) 

^ Although there is a farm in the west of Iceland called AsgarSr, it is 

much more natural to derive our Asgarbys from the common personal name 
Asf^eir (holy spear). Aysgarth in Yorkshire may possibly be the parallel of 
Asfrai-Sr in Iceland. AsgarSr was the abode of the gods. The Lincoln- 
shire Asgarby is Asgerebi in D. B. 

^ Aswarby and Aswardl:)y, pronounced Azerl:)y. The Old Norse name, 
As-vari5r, i.e. holy guardian (probably with reference to Thorr, and the 
equivalent of Thorr-varSr), was afterwards corrupted into Azur, which 
appears frequently in D. B. Cf. Asserbo, Denmark, Aswarthajbothoe, 1186. 

4 Pronounced Aizleby. D. B., Aslachebi. Aslakr = Anglo-Saxon 
Oslac ; liic, a sacrifice. 

' AswcU Lane, in Louth, runs past the head of the springs which yield 
the best water in the town. Monksdike, which in earlier days formed a 
water-communication between Louth and Louth Abbey, is fed by this 
spring. The connection thus established between the spring and this reli- 
gious house may possibly account for the name Aswell, holy well : but this 
would require the word ass in this sense to have been in common use at an 
improbably late period. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 79 

sanctuary, in our Lincolnshire place-names. Whisby/ 
Withern,^ Wyville, Wyham,^ cannot but remind us of 
the continental Wisby,'* Wiby, Vilund, Vcum, Vebjorg/'' 
Viom, and Veibye, which are known to preserv^e in their 
first syllable the Old Norse vc.^ 

A small village called Thoresway, near Caistor, 
appears as Toreswe in Domesday Book.'' This Toreswe 
may be a corruption of Thorsvegr, i.e. Thor's road, but, 
on the other hand, it may be no corruption at all, and, 
like Odinsve in Funen and Odinsvi in Sweden, may be 
a record of pagan worship.^ It is, therefore, not impos- 
sible that the name of Thoresway, occurring in one of 
the chief centres of Danish colonization, marks the very 
spot where, within a thousand years of the present day, 

' D. B.,\Vizebi. 

^ D. B., Widiin, Widerne ; C. I. (Edward I.), Wytherne. Camden calls 
it Withorn ; cf. Holy oak. Withernsca in D. B. is Widfornes, and 
'Withernwick is Widfornewick. 

3 D. B., Wichan ; but Hundred Rolls, Wyum ; I. N., Wyhum ; Test. 
Nev., Wium. U/n is the Danish form of ham ; cf. Husum. 

* Wisby, in the island of Gottland, is one of the oldest and most famous 
sacred localities of the North. 

^ Modern Viborg. 

" At the same time, it is well to i^emember that vJ may very easily, in 
place-names, be confused with other words. O. Rygh (jNIinderom Guderne, 
p. 5) points out that in the ancient language, ve had also the meaning of 
farm, though he does not consider that in this sense it often enters into 
place-names. A more fruitful source of confusion he believes is to l)e found 
in the Old Norse vi'&r, wood; cf. Withcall. To these we may add the Old 
Norse vegr, a road ; see below on Thoresway. 

' PI. A., Thoresweye; C. I. (Edward I.), Thorswey ; I. N. (Edward 
HI.), Thoresway. 

8 Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), p. 158. "Everard, Abbot 
of Holme Cultram in the reign of Henry the Second, relates that at the 
village of Thursby, near Carlisle, there formerly stood a temple, containing 
an image of Thor." (Ferguson, Northmen in Cumberland and Westmore- 
land, p. 28.) 



8o LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

high festival was held to the most popular of the gods 
of the North.i 

In like manner, the name of Londonthorpe, a village 
close to Grantham, in spite of its modern sound, very 
likely points to the time when idols were worshipped in 
our county. Londonthorpe is what might almost be 
termed a cockney corruption of Lundartorp,^ from hindr 
(gen. hmdar), a grove of trees.^ This word lundr has no 
absolutely necessary connection with worship, and when 
used merely as a suffix, as in Timberland (D. B., Timber- 
lunt) and Snelland (D. B., Sneleslunt), it may denote no 
more than the wooded character of the locality ; but 
where, on the other hand, it forms the prefix, the chief 
and characteristic part of the name, as in Lundartorp, or 
where it stands alone, as in Lound,^ we may infer, if not 
conclude, that the word carries the same force as in such 
names as Lundr and Lundareykir in Iceland, or Lund in 

' Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), pp. 1S5, 1S6, quotes 
[ )onnerschwee, formerly Doner.swe (Doner = Thunar = Thorr), but cannot 
decide whether the suffix is to be translated temple or way. He adds, 
"The Norwegian folk-tale tells us of an actual Thorsvej, i.e. way." Cf. 
also Skinandavegr, Iceland. 

- D. B., Lundetorp and Lundertorp ; Hundred Rolls, PL A., Test. 
Nev., Lunderthorp. 

^ On the worship of groves, see Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (Stally- 
brass), chap, iv., remarks on lundr, p. 76. 

^ Lound and Craiselound in the Isle of Asholme, designated in D. B. as 
Lund et alter Lund. The prefix Craise, which appears to be an addition 
subsequent to the D. B. survey, may be Old Norse Jircysi, a cairn, or heap 
of stones haunted by wild beasts. (Cf. Dunmail Raise in Westmoreland, i.e. 
Dunmail's cairn, see CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 284.) There is a Raiseland Hill 
ill Langtoft, near Bourne. There is a Lund and Lundgarth in Holderness. 
(See Words and Places, p. 224.) Mr. Taylor associates these names with 
grove worship. Launde appears to be a later Normanizcd form of lund. 
Cf. Ashby de la Launde ; so La Londe in Normandy. 



RECORDS OF MYTHOLOGY. 8 I 

Sweden, names undoubtedly associated with ancient 
grove-worship.^ 

It is more than possible that, if every local name 
would yield its secret, we might find that not a few of 
them record the superstitious fears of our ancestors. For 
example, if it were allowable to draw any inference from 
a curious assemblage of somewhat kindred names, we 
might suppose that one particular district of the county 
had once been under strong suspicion of being haunted 
ground. Within a very limited area we find the names 
of Scremby, Scrimthorp, Giant's Hill, and Gander Hill ; 
whilst, in the same parts, Ormsby and Wormegay are 
associated with weird stories of destructive monsters. 
Scremby is most naturally derived from Old Norse 
skrcemi^^ a scarecrow or monster,^ a word closely con- 
nected with S/crdj/ir, the name of a monster giant.^ 
Scrimthorp, a hamlet of Kraytoft, represents the more 
ancient Scripinthorp,^ which irresistibly suggests as its 
origin, the Old Norse skripi, or skripindi, a monster or 
goblin.^ Gander Hill*^ may have perpetuated the Scan- 

' It is not impossible that some of our many Little Londons might be 
traced to the same source. Litill lundr might almost as easily fall into 
Little London as Lundarthorp into Londonthorpe. A little grove is men- 
tioned as a boundary mark, Fagrskinna II., "ra^a einum steini ok litlum 
lund." (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., hindr.) There are places called Londen 
and Lundum in Denmark. 

"^ See CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

' See CI. and Vigf. Diet. Another possible derivation is Danish 
skrant or skrcnt, a slope or declivity, which would well suit the situation. 
The word is found in several Danish place-names (Sjtel. Stedn., p. 241). 
The name is variously spelt in early records : D. 15., Screnln ; R. C, Scrembi ; 
C. I. (Edward I.), Screymby ; PI. A., Skryngliy. 

^ So Placitorum Abbrev. 

^ CI. and Vigf. Diet, « Near Oxcomb. 

G 



82 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

dinavian gandr} a fiend, best known in the compound 
form of Jormungandr, the fabulous serpent that girdled 
the earth.'-^ Giant's Hill, in Skcndleby, to some extent 
speaks for itself, but tlie name brings us into contact 
with some of the most interesting and entertaining super- 
stitions of our fathers,^ From this region of pure conjec- 
ture, however, it is high time to turn ; wc, therefore, close 
this chapter and pass to somewhat safer ground. 

* Oxgandir (see CI. and Vigf. Diet. ) ; "A snake or serpent is by Kormak 
called ^^aW;- ox gaiidir." (Kormak's Saga.) Cf. the stories connected with 
Ormsby and Wormegay, which, however, of course originated in the 
names themselves, 

^ There is another Gander Hill in the north of the county, not far from 
Caistor. There is a Gander's-nest in Pembrokeshire, in a locality full of 
Norse names. Cf. also Ganderup (?), and Gandersmoller (?) in Denmark. 

^ Giant's Hills are often believed to be the graves of those monsters 
who figure so largely in Teutonic mythology ; still more often are they 
thought to be due to the carelessness of a giant, in allowing soil to drop from 
his sack, or apron, or glove, as he conveyed portions of land from one 
place to another. (See Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), vol. ii. 
PP- 535-542.) 



CHAPTER V. 

HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 

" Foia-'!. . . . We are Danes 

Who conqiierVl wliat we walk on, our own field. 
****** 

I/aro/d. This old Wulfnoth 

Would take me on his knees and tell mc tales 
Of Alfred and of Athelstan the Great, 
"Who drove you Danes ; and yet he held that Dane, 
Jute, Angle, Saxon were, or should be, all 
■One England." 

Harold, Tennyson. 

As we pass from one part of the county to another, many 
a romantic story from the Eddas and Sagas is conjured 
up by the names we meet with, — names that recall the 
mighty exploits of heroes, half divine, half human, 
extolled by the poets and chroniclers of the North,' — 
names that seem to bring us closer to an infant world, 
that loved to hover on the borderland between natural 
and supernatural, between history and fable. For, like 
other nations, the Danes had their heroes, and sang their 
praises. Round a slender thread of fact gathered a vast 
accretion of the weird and wonderful, and fabulous 
adventures were assigned to Scandinavian princes and 



84 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

warriors, as to /Eneas and Theseus in an earlier age, or 
Hereward and Robin Hood of later times. 

Heroic names were of course handed down to pos- 
terity by the stories and traditions that made them: 
famous ; but they also became familiar through their 
continuous use in every succeeding generation as personal 
names. If the deeds of Wada, Rodgar, and Hildebrand 
were celebrated in popular tales, these names were sure 
to be appropriated for family purposes ; and through the 
arrival, first of the German, then of the Dane, these 
names were imprinted upon English soil. They brought 
their famous names to these shores, as we have sent ours 
across the Atlantic and Pacific. Many of these heroes, 
these patron saints of the North, were the original 
founders of families or clans which rose to pre-eminence. 
Some belong alike to German and to Norseman ; some, 
again, are more peculiarly the property of the one or 
the other. It is with those that especially found a niche 
in the Norseman's temple of fame that we are now 
concerned. 

Haddingr was one of the early traditional founders 
of the Danish kingdom,^ and from some humble repre- 
sentative of the Hadding or Harding clan the Lincoln- 
shire village of Haddington received its present name. 
Harden's Gap,^ a cleft in the hills near Tetford, may 
preserve the same time-honoured name. 

Ing, the father of the Ingajvones mentioned by 

* The name stands fourth in the list as given by 01. Wormius, being 
preceded by Dan, Lother, and Gram. 

- Gap is Old Norse; Anglo-Saxon .^^iw/. The present Gauno in Den- 
jnark was originally Gapno (Madsen, Syx\. Stedn., p. 204). 



HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 85 

Tacitus, first dwelt amonj;- the Danes, then disappeared 
in the East, and eventually became the subject of many 
strange traditions, which sometimes crown him with 
divine rather than heroic honours. His memory was 
kept alive by a multitude of personal names.^ One of 
these, . Ingjaldr, is enshrined in Ingoldmells, Ingoldby, 
and Ingoldtoft, in various parts of the county. 

Heregar figures in Beowulf as king of Denmark, 
and if the reading of Domesday Book be correct,^ this 
name found its way to Lincolnshire with the Dane, who 
settled at Harrowby, near Grantham. 

Egill was an early claimant for the honours usually 
assigned to William Tell. We learn from the Edda how 
Egill, the son of a Finnish prince, at the command of 
King Nidung, pierced with an arrow an apple placed 
upon the head of his own child. On being asked the 
purpose of other shafts still protruding from the quiver, 
he replied that they were for the king, had his boy been 
injured by the first. The Norwegians had an archer- 
hero called Hemingr, about whom a similar tale was 
told ; and it is interesting to find both these champions 
represented in Lincolnshire. Egill appears to have been 
a very common name among the Danes, who settled in 
the county, just as it was amongst their cousins who 



' Both male and female. Ingjaldr and Ingolfr are found in the Land- 
namabok. Ingulf and Ingemund held lands in Lincolnshire in the reign 
of Edward the Confessor. Cf. Engelstofte and Engelstrup in Denmark 
(jMadsen, Sjal. Stedn., p. 264), which are from Ingjaldr. 

* Domesday Book, Herigerebi. We find transitional forms in Herierby 
of Test. Nev., and Heryerby, PI. A. The name is compounded of Herr 
— people, and gcirr, a spear. 



86 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

colonized Iceland/ for we find it at Eagle, near Lincoln^ 
Elsthorpe^ in Edenham, at Aylcsby, near Grimsby, and 
very likely at Ailby, near Alford. Hemingby,^ near 
Horncastlc, serves to remind us of the sister myth and 
kindred hero from the Norwegian tale.^ 

When we learn that Skellingthorpe is the corruption 
of Skeldingthorpe,^ we call to mind at once the charming 
fable of Skjoldr. This heroic son of Odin and ancestor 
of Danish kings is said to have received his name from 
being found, as an infant, in a bed of reeds, whither he 
had floated on a shield ; a pretty story, but in truth 
nothing more than a poetic fancy, arising from the 
ancient custom of lifting the king upon a shield at the 
time of his election.*' But what lends particular interest 
to this name of Skellingthorpe, is that Hingvar and 
Hubba, whose conquests opened the way for permanent 
Danish occupation, represented in their own persons the 
great Skelding family. It would be rash indeed to 
maintain that either of these great leaders had any 
personal connection with Skeldingthorpe, but it is quite 
within the bounds of possibility that some of their 

^ Eglll is one of the commonest names in Landnamabolv. 

* Or Aylesthorpe, D. B. Aighelestorp. So we have Eielstrup in Den- 
mark, wliich was formerly written Egilstorp, Eghelstorp, and Eyelstorp. 

^ Cf. Hemmingstrup, in Denmark. 

* The name Heming is also found, though not so frequently as Egill, 
in the Landnamabok. 

* Domesday Book and Hundred Roll>. Tlie Skjoldungar, or Scyldings, 
were the descendants of Skjoldr. Clnsely parallel to our Lincolnshire 
Skellingthorpe we find, in Norway, the nrodern Skjelhmgen and Skilling- 
berg, representing the ancient Skjoldungar and Skjoldungaberg. (Minder 
om Guderne, p. 24.) 

^ See CI. and Vigf. Diet., Skjoldungar, 



HEROES AND NATIONAEITIES. 8/ 

kinsmen or their more immediate followers gave a name 
to this place.^ 

Hacconby cannot fail to remind us of Hiikon,'-^ the 
good King of Denmark, on whose accession, so the story 
ran, the birds twice reared their young, and trees twice 
yielded fruit within the year. 

Two Hagnabys,^ one near Spilsby, the other near 
Alford, conjure up the memory of Hagan, the one-eyed 
hero, or more than hero, of the Nibclungcn Lied ; or it 
may be that in Hagnab}-, as probably in Honington '^ 
and Honey Holes, we should recognize the name of 
Hogni, or Hagenes, a hero who plays a part in the tale 
of Beowulf. 

We are not called upon to go into the perplexing 
myth of Havelok the Dane and his Grimsby associations,'^ 
but his honour is faithfulh- preserved in one of the street 
names of that town, whilst in earlier days, at least, he 
could boast memorial stones both at Grimsby and 
Lincoln/' Perhaps the point in connection with this 
legend most interesting to many minds, may be the fact 
that the modern hero, who has, in our day, again made 
famous the name of Havelok, laid claim to Grimsby as 
the place from which his family originally came. 

' Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 430. 

- Hakon, in meaning probably identical with dreitgr, a young unmarried 
man. With Hacconby may be compared Hagendru]^ and Haagendrup 
(both from Hakon), in Denmark. 

^ D. B., Hagenebi. 

"* D. B., Nongtone, Hondintone, Hogtone. 

'' For this myth see Skeat's edition of the Lay of Havelok the Dane. 

" At Lincoln Havelok astonished every one by the distance to which he 
"put the stone" at an athletic contest. This feat may account for the 
Lincoln stone. 



88 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

This hasty enumeration of lieroes represented in 
Lincohishire place-names, may be concluded with the 
grand old Scandinavian name of Havardr, which figures 
conspicuously in the Nibelungen Lied, and may possibly 
be the original of our historic Howard. The Lincoln- 
shire representatives of this name are found disguised in 
the village of Hawerby and the wapentake of Haverstoe, 
which, in Domesday Book and other ancient records, 
appear, without any attempt at concealment, as Hawar- 
debi and Hawardeshou.^ 

We now turn, for a moment, to memorials left 
upon our soil by Norsemen, whose names are found in 
the history of England, — who won some at least of their 
laurels upon English ground, — who, in some way, have left 
to posterity a name associated with the annals of this 
country. 

Comparatively few of the powerful vikings, who 
sailed from Denmark to England, can be ranked among 
historical characters, their individual careers being, for 
the most part, unknown to us. As, however, we cordially 
endorse the opinion of Thomas Fuller, that the county of 
Lincoln, in all ages, has equalled other shires in its roll 
of worthies, we must not doubt that, in the age of 
heroes, it boasted, among the conquered Angles and the 
victorious Norsemen, at least its share of heroic names. 

' Very likely Hawthorpe also is from Havardr. In Domesday Book it 
is Auuartorp, Auetorp, and Avetorp. This name Havardr has suffered 
equal indignities in the place-names of Norway and Denmark. In the 
former country Haavestol, and in the latter Haudrup, represent the ancient 
Havardr. (See Minder cm Cuiderne, p. 17; and Madsen, Sjtel. Stedn., 
p. 263.) 



HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 89 

It is possible that, in these early days, the county " went 
beyond itself," as Fuller tells us was the case in the time 
of Queen Elizabeth;^ but unfortunately, if such were 
the case, the memorials of its grandeur have, with few 
exceptions, perished. Fuller, indeed, could speak with 
confidence, as well as pride, of William Cecil, John 
Whitgift, Lord Edward Clinton, Sir Edmund Anderson, 
Sir Thomas Heneage and others ; but we, who are dealing 
with the dim and early dawn of history, have but few 
names to record, and these not without some degree of 
uncertainty. 

Algarkirk^ is the most enduring memorial left by 
Algar, son of the Anglo-Danish ^ Leofric, h^arl of Mercia, 
whilst Morkery Wood, near Bourne, immortalizes the 
name of Morcar, son of Algar, and lord of Bourne. 

According to the account of Ingulph, Abbot of 
Crowland, a much earlier Algar and Morcar existed in 
the persons of two Lincolnshire nobles, who headed a 
futile resistance to the Danes in the year 870, and 
whose exploits are associated with the name of Threck- 
ingham. At a place called Laundon, so runs the abbot's 
story, Earl Algar of Holland, supported by Morcar, lord 
of Bourne, met the Danes, who were completely defeated, 

• Fuller's Worthies, vol. ii. p. 4 (181 1, 4to.). 

- D. B., Alfgare. The name is Norse from alfr (Anglo-Saxon, cclf), an 

elf, and geirr, a spear. There is a place called Alfgeirsvellir mentioned in 

the Landnamabok. Alkestrup in Denmark is the modern form of Alfgeirs- 

torp. 

^ The grandfather of Leofric was Northiiian, and he also had a brother 

of that name. Leif or Leifr was a common Norse name, and is found in 

many compounds as well. Laceby most likely derives its name from a 

settler called Leif ; in Domesday Book it is Levesbi. 



90 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

with the loss of three chiefs. On the following mornings 
the Danes, who had been largely reinforced in the night, 
renewed the engagement, and the Saxon force was almost 
annihilated. On the same authority, we learn that the 
name of Laundon was changed to Threckingham, in 
honour of the three Danish leaders who fell in battle. 
Could we trust this account, we should certainly have, 
in the name of Threckingham, a most interesting county 
memorial of a stirring episode in English history. But, 
for many reasons, strong suspicion attaches to the tale, and 
very few at the present day believe it. In the first place 
the Saxon Chronicle, a far more trustworthy authority 
than the abbot,^ who wrote after the Norman Conquest, 
is completely silent upon the subject. Again, it is 
strange to find a large proportion of Danish names, such 
as Algar, Toli, and Harding, associated with the English 
force at so early a date, when the Northmen had obtained 
no permanent footing in the country. So, too, the chief 
characters, Algar and Morcar, look very much as if they 
had been transferred to the times of Ethelred and 
Alfred from a much later page of history. In fact, 
everything tends to support the opinion of Mr. Kemble, 
that the name of Threckingham marks the home of the 
Threckings, who, it may be presumed, cam.c to Lincoln- 
shire with the Benings and Billings.^ 

' "The false Ingulph,"' as ^Ir. Freeman repeatedly calls him. 

- The editor of Chronicon Nortmannorum makes the following remark 
on the invasion headed by Hingvar and Hubba : " Hxc in ChronicO' 
Saxonico breviter dicta, uberius narrantur, et fortasse ex populi rumoribus 
fabulis exornantur ab omnibus fere Anglorum chronographis." Stukeley 
ridiculed the story of Threckingham, and identified Laundon with London- 



HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 9I 

Hubba, Ubba, or Ubbo/ as he is variously called, 
was one of the Danish chiefs who, in the year 870, 
overran and annexed East Anglia. Crossing from the 
Yorkshire coast and landing at Humberstone, he, with 
Hingvar his colleague in command, wintered at Thet- 
ford. In the following spring they engaged and defeated 
Edmund, King of East Anglia,^ and then pushed their 
way to the south. The Hubbards Hills in various parts 
of the county arc believed to commemorate the prowess 
of this chieftain.'^ Upperthorpe, now a part of Haxey, 
is only once mentioned in Domesday Book, and then as 
Hubaldestorp. Is it not possible that the correct reading 
lies midway between the two, and that while Domesday 

thorpe, probably on account of j^imilarity in sound. The name, however, 
of Londonthorpe is the corruption of Lundertorp, and is one of the names 
most characteristic of tlie Danisli settlement. There is no mention of 
Threckingham in Mr. Isaac Taylor's Words and Places, and Kingsley regards 
the story as a myth (see Herevvard, Introductory chapter). Bishop Trollope 
accepted this traditional origin of Threckingham, when he wrote his valuable 
paper on the Danes in Lincolnshire, published in the Lincoln Architectural 
Society's Report, 1859, but had abandoned it in 1872, when he published 
Sleaford and its Neighbourhood ; he still, however, maintains that the 
village was the scene of a great battle with the Danes, and points to the 
Daneshill, or Danesfield, in this parish as corroborating the voice of tradition. 
(Sleaford and Neighbourhood, p. 514.) It maybe added that Ingulph's 
story is fully related by Professor Worsaae in his Danske Erobring af 
England og Normandiet, pp. 87-89. 

' Hubba and Hingvar were the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, king of Den- 
mark. It is said, rather by tradition than history, that Ragnar was ship- 
wrecked on the coast of Northumbria, whilst sailing for the invasion of that 
kingdom, and that he was cruelly put to death by Ella, the Northumbrian 
king. The sons were bound by their religious belief to revenge their father's 
death, and hence their expedition of 868-872. (Worsaae, Danes and 
Northmen, p. 23-) 

^ Better known as St. Edmund. 

=* Cf. also Huberdheythe in Scopwiclc and LIuberdhaythc in Branston, 
mentioned in Hundred Rolls. 



92 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Book writes Hubaldestorp, and we call it Upperthorpe, 
the original name was Hubbasthorpe/ thus answering 
to Hubberholme in Yorkshire, and Hubberston in Pem- 
brokeshire ? 

The fact that Humberstone was the scene of Hubba's 
landing suggests the thought that this name may- 
be a corruption of Hubbastone, the transition from the 
one to the other being facilitated by the proximity of 
the great river.^ Nor is it altogether impossible that 
Hunger Hill at Aylesby, in the immediate vicinity of 
Humberstone, is the corrupt rendering of Hingvar Hill. 
In the reign of Edward HI. there was, apparently, a place 
called Hynkershill,^ which may very well have been 
one of the Hunger Hills in the county, and looks like 
a connecting link between Hingvarshill and Hunger 
Hill. There can be little doubt that this local name, so 
common throughout England,^ was attached to various 
spots in the county before the Danish chiefs landed at 
Hum.berstone ; but, if the name of Hingvar ^ did become 
connected with any of the hills on which his army was 
encamped, nothing could be more natural than that time 



' If Ubbetorp of T. de Nevill could l)e identified with Upperthorpe, this 
conjecture would be corroborated. But it would of course still be most 
uncertain, not to say improbaljle, that the Hubba, who left his name here, 
was the famous son of Ragnar Lodbrok. 

- Humberstan, Hundred Rolls. In C. T. T. we have Huberstein, but 
this appears to be a mere sli]3 of the pen, as it is followed by Humljerstein. 

^ Henry de Hynkershill, citizen of Lincoln, Inqu. Non. 

* Ilungerborg is also a common local name iu Denmark, and Hunger 
was a personal name among the Danes. 

^ If Al)l)ot Ingulph, in writing of Unguar instead of Inguar, was adopting 
the popular pronunciation, the corruption would be very slight. 



HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 93 

should soon obliterate the distinction between Hingvar 
and Hunger.^ 

Such speculations may have their interest, but as 
they can never probably be verified, they have little 
intrinsic value, and may be left behind with a sense of 
relief.'-^ It will be convenient, however, to close this 



^ The constant association of Humberstone witli places characterized by 
the prefix Hunger is a somewhat curious coincidence ; it would be rash to 
say more. Mention has already been made of Hunger Hill at Aylesby, 
close to Humberstone. In the south-west of the county, near Grantham, 
there is a hamlet called Hungerton, and within a very short distance, but 
just in Leicestershire, there is a spot known as Humberstone Gorse. A 
still more remarkable instance of this conjunction is to be found in mid- 
Leicestershire. A few miles north-east of Leicester, we have a group of 
villao-es in which the following names occur : Humberstone, Hungerton, and 
Ingarsby, or Ingwardby. Close by are Quenby (D. B., Queneberie) and 
Queniborough (D. B., Cuniburg), names which apparently mark the site of 
important camps and fortresses. It maybe added that other words, besides 
Himgcr, may account for our Hunger Hills and Hungry Hills, as Iiangra = 
a meadow, and hanger. It is possible that superstition, too, may have had 
as hare in giving these names. " A curious superstition prevails in some 
parts of the west of Scotland. Some tracts of country are believed to be 
so much under the power of enchantment that he who passes over any one 
of them would infallibly faint, if he did not use something for the support 
of nature. It is, therefore, customary to carry a piece of bread in one's 
pocket to be eaten when one comes to what is called the Ititngry ground."' 
(Jamieson, Hungry Ground.) 

- It may be mentioned here, that Farlesthorpc, near Alford, appears in 
Domesday Book as Haroldestorp. If this ancient reading were correct, we 
should, in this name, have a memorial of the famous king who fell at 
Senlac, and who held large estates in Lincolnshire. But, though the cor- 
ruption of Haroldsthorpe into Farlesthorpe is a possible one, it is mucli 
more likely that the present name is an abbreviated form of Faraldestorp, 
which a foreign scribe, mindful of the national hero, who had lately fallen in 
battle, might very easily make into Haraldestorp. Old Norse Faraldr, a 
traveller, also ghost, was a personal name among the Norsemen, and occurs 
in the Sturlunga Saga. Curiously enough, as if to keep up the Domesday 
Book delusion, the translator of the Lincolnshire Domesday Book has 
allowed Earlsthorpe to be printed for Farlesthorpe. 



94 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

chapter with a brief notice of the various nationahties 
which appear to have taken root in Lincohishirc under 
Danish auspices. Although we cannot decide with any 
certaint}/ how their connection with the Danes may have 
arisen, the probabiHty is great that in the hordes from 
the North, which overran our county, a large number of 
distinct races were represented. For instance, the force 
led by Hubba and Hingvar is said to have been com- 
posed of Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Russians. 
Desperate adventurers, ready to fight under any sky or 
flag, would naturally gravitate towards these lawless 
vikings ; and the poet laureate, whilst paying homage 
to the illustrious Dane who has lately made her home 
amongst us, may correctly describe the Danish pirates, 
who, though anything but welcome, settled on our shores 
a thousand years ago. Saxon, Northman, Celt, and 
many other nationalities, were doubtless represented in 
the mixed multitude that found its way to England 
beneath the standard of the Raven. 

Such being the case, it is possible that, in the names 
now to be mentioned, we have a record of allotments 
made to alien comrades in the general division of the 
spoil. Thus, for example, we find no less than four 
Normanbys ^ in the county of Lincoln, and it would be 
a great mistake to suppose that these form a memorial 
of Norman-French occupation. The Norman, or North- 
man, as the Danes w^ere wont to use the term, was not 

* D. B., Normanebi ; C. T. T., Nordmanabi. The Old Norse word is 
NoriSmaSr. It may, however, be observed that Northman was used in a 
personal, as well as a national, sense, and is often met with as a proper name. 



HEROES AND NATIONALTIES. 95 

the descendant of the Norsemen, who settled with Rolf 
the Ganger in France, but rather the veritable Norwegian 
or Icelander, — a man from the North; and these Nor- 
manbys, most likely, owe their name to adventurers of 
Norwegian or Icelandic birth, who became Lincolnshire 
landowners, when the Danes took possession of the 
county. 

Several villages appear to have been connected in their 
origin with the Scotch, or possibly the Irish, who were 
likewise called Scots by the Norsemen. We have Scot- 
Willoughby, Scothern,^ Scotter,^ the last apparently 
preserving to us the Old Norse plural Skotar, the Scots.'^ 
These Scots, in spite of their name, may have been 
Norsemen by blood ; for, at the time of which we are 
speaking, a portion both of Ireland and Scotland had 

' D. B., Scoterne ; C. T. T., Scotstorna. 

* Scotland in Ingoldsby is mentioned in Domesday Book as Coteland, 
and the transition from one to the other is perfectly natural ; but Scotland 
is veiy common in the local nomenclature of England, and there is a spot 
in Oxcombe known by this name ; but see below, note ', p. 96. Scotter- 
thorpc is a very modern corruption of Scalthorpe ; see Chapter viii. 

^ Scotere is mentioned in a charter belonging to the monastery at Peter- 
borough, which was ascribed to Wulfere, King of Mercia, and bearing date 
664. But this deed, like a good many other ecclesiastical charters, was a 
forgery. (SeeKemble's Cod. Dip. ^v. Sax., vol. v. MS. 984.) This record 
was alleged to have been saved from the flames, when the monastery was 
burned in the expedition of Hingvar and Hubba, and when the abbey was 
rebuilt nearly a century later, this deed of gift was produced by pious fraud. 
It was taken by Abbot Martin about 1 1 50 to Rome to be confirmed by 
Pope Eugenius III. ; this was not done, but another was ultimately substi- 
tuted for it. The large proportion of purely Danish names, e.g. Scalthorp, 
Alethorp, Jolthorp, Thorp, Ragenildethorp, Normanby, etc., are quite 
enough to prove that the charter does not date from 664. The original 
charter of Wulfere, 'on the other hand, contains no names of this type. (See 
Gunton's History of the Church of Peterborough, pp. 4, 22 ; Appendix, 
pp. 123-139, and Supplement, p. 276; also Dugdale, Mon. Angl.) 



96 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

been colonized from the North, and it is impossible to 
say whether the Scots, who settled in Lincolnshire, were 
such by birth, or merely by location.^ 

Even Saxons seem to have joined the Danes in their 
incursions into England, for we have two Saxbys, one 
near Barton, the other close to Market Rasen.'-^ 

In like manner the Frisians appear to have settled 
in various parts of the county, either in association with 
the Danes or ynder their protection. Thus we have 
Firsby (D. B., Frisebi), Friezeland in Nettleham, and 
Friesthorpe ^ near Market Rasen ; while the name of 
Friskney * also appears to bear the impress of the 

' I have given the ordinary interpretation of Scoi as a suffix in local 
names (see Edmunds, Names of Places ; Isaac Taylor, Words and Places, 
p. 179) ; bht it is more than doubtful whether it will apply to every case. 
In the Lothians the word s/io^ is used to express a portion or plot of land, 
and is doubtfully identified by Jamieson with Su. G. s/cocf, angulus, and 
this might be the origin of the prefix in such names as Scothern and Scot- 
Willoughby. Still more probable, however, is it that Old Norse s/ca/f = tax 
(Anglo-Saxon scraf, English sro/, or j//(V) should be recognized in some 
of the many local names in England which begin with Srof or S/iot. It 
appears that a tax called the Scat, dating from before the time of incorpo- 
ration with tlie kingdom of Scotland, is still paid in Shetland (see Jamieson, 
Etymological Dictionary) for the privilege of pasturing on the hills or com- 
mons and cutting peats there, such land being called, in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, if not at the present time, Scatland (cf. Sknttland, a tributary land, 
CI. and Vigf. Diet. ). Further, the term Scatliold, or Scatlald, is used in 
Orkney and Shetland for open ground furnishing pasture or peat for fuel. 
From the fact that this ancient word is found where it is, we may ascribe it 
with the utmost probability to the Northmen, and may find in it the pos- 
sible origin of our Lincolnshire Scottlethorpe. Scottlethorpe, however, 
appears in Domesday Book as Scachertorp, and thus doubt is thrown upon 
the original form of the name. In Hundred Rolls it is Scotelthorp. 

- Old Norse Saxland = Saxonland, i.e. Germany. Thus Saxby might 
perhaps be more accurately rendered the town of the German, than that of 
the Saxon ; cf. Sassetot in Normandy. ^ C. T. T., Frisatorp. 

•* Old Norse Friskr, a Frisian. With Lincolnshire Firsby (D. B., 
Frisebi), cf. Leicestershire Frisby. 



HEROES AND NATIONALITIES. 97 

Norseman's tongue. The Friestons, one near Boston, 
the other in Caythorpe, may belong, with almost equal 
probability, to English or Danish settlement. 

One other nationality is at least suggested by the 
name of Walesby. It occurs three times in Domesday 
Book ; ^ each time it is spelt as it has come down to us. 
Now, if we take Walesby as an old Danish phrase 
and translate it into English, we have the village of the 
foreigner. If this be the true interpretation (an interpre- 
tation suggested with much doubt and hesitation), what 
foreigner is meant .'' where did he come from ? what was 
his nationality .-' It is doubtless impossible to decide 
the question, but it may be pointed out that Valland,^ or 
foreign land, was a term used by the Northmen with 
special, though not exclusive, reference to France ; ^ and 
Walesby may therefore be the record of French colonists 
in Lincolnshire before Ivo de Taillebois and Gilbert de 
Lacy marched their vassals into the county.^ Walesby 
is situated in the wapentake of Walshcroft,''' a corruption, 

' Other ancient records agree with Domesday Book. 

" Val is the Old Norse form of Anglo-Saxon wealh, a foreigner. The 
word is still retained in Wales and Welsh. It is curious, as Mr. Green 
remarks, to find indigenous Britons accepting the term oi foreigner, imposed 
upon them by the intrusive German. (Making of England, p. 122.) 

^ CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 675, Valir and Val-land. 

* Walesby, however, may be so called from the personal name Vali, 
which appears in Valerod and Vallebo. (Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 269.) Vali 
was the name of one of the Norse gods. There is a Walesby in Notting- 
hamshire, D. B. Walesbi. 

* The croft appears to have been substituted for cross at an early period, 
but there is little doubt the name was originally Walescros. D. B., 
Walescros ; C. T. T., Walescroft ; Hundred Rolls, Walsecros and Wales- 
croft ; PI. A., Walscroft; R. C., Walecros ; I. N., Walesshcroft. The 
seal of Walshcroft has Walcrost. This is a seal or pass, in accordance with 

H 



98 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

it would seem, of Walescross. Is it possible that these 
strangers brought with them the faith of Christendom, 
and set up the cross in that district, when as yet the 
Danish settlers around worshipped at the shrines of 
Thor and Odin ? 

Statute 12 Richard II., which aulhorized a labourer to pass from one 
place to another. {Arclucological yoiirnal, vol. x. ]"). 12 ; vol. xi. p. 378.) 



CHAPTER VI. 

RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT — PART I. 

" ' What ! you are stepping westward .'' ' — ' Yea.' 
'Twould be a wildish destiny, 
If we, who thus together roam 
In a strange land, and far from home, 
Were in this place the guests of chance ; 
Yet who would stop or fear t' advance. 
Though home or shelter he had none. 
With such a sky to lead him on ? " 

Wordsworth. 

Hitherto we have been chiefly brought into contact 
with the personal names of the conquering Danes. And 
it is notorious that a very large proportion of towns and 
villages in every part of the kingdom have thus handed 
down to us (though often in a very corrupt form) the 
names of those who were the first to clear the forest and 
break the soil. Far more than half the local names 
introduced by the Danes bear this character. Not that 
it was in any vulgar pride, or through the vain desire of 
immortalizing themselves, that this was done. It was 
not with them as with those heroes of the alcove, who 
moved the wrath of the poet Cowper, — 



lOO LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

"... not all its pride secures 
The grand retreat from injuries impress'd 
By rural carvers . . . 

. . . leaving an obscure rude name 
In characters uncouth and spelt amiss." ' 

With the ancient settler it was simply a matter of con- 
venience to call the land by the name of its owner, and, 
as a matter of fact, it was doubtless done for them oftener 
than they did it for themselves. It was as natural for 
Solmund, looking northward, to talk of Ulricsby (Wor- 
laby), as for Ulric to look south and speak of Solmundsby 
(Salmonby). Some, however, of the names with which 
we are familiar had a different origin, and it is principally 
with these that our attention will now be occupied. 
The question we now deal with is, whether any of the 
names marked upon our county map contain records of 
what these Danish settlers did when they arrived upon 
our shores. Can we, amongst our place-names, point to 
any memorial of their achievements and their mode of 
settlement .'' We shall find, upon examination, that such 
records abound. 

There are two names standing side by side upon the 
map, which inay form, in spite of their personal origin 
and character, a fitting introduction to this part of our 
subject. In the heart of the wolds, about midway 
between Lincoln and Market Rasen, lies the parish of 

' The poet continues : 

" So strong the zeal to immortalize himself 
Beats in the breast of man, that e'en a fevf, 
Few transient years, won from the abyss abhorr'd 
Of blank oblivion, seems a glorious prize, 
And even to a clown." 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. lOI 

Wickenby/ with the hamlet of Westleby ^ adjacent to it. 
Wickenby, Hterally translated, is the home of the 
viking-, so that, in this inland village, we have an im- 
perishable memorial of that plundering sea-life, which 
made the Norseman a terror to every coast, and not 
least to the shores of old England. 

The very name of viking, derived, as it is, from Old 
Norse vik, a bay, expresses and illustrates that roving 
life, which was spent among the bays and fjords of 
Europe.^ In the older days of heathendom, it was usual 
for a young man of distinction to establish a reputation 
by a marauding expedition to foreign lands, nor could 
he, until he had thus won his spurs upon his ocean-horse, 
lay claim to the coveted title of viking.^ Amongst the 
more barbarous of the Norsemen, as, for instance, the 
Norwegian colonists of Orkney, this custom lasted into 
the thirteenth century, and perhaps even later ; ^ but, as 
the Christian faith leavened the thought and life of the 
North, the pirate's profession fell into disrepute,^ and the 
last recorded viking-raid in the annals of Iceland took 
place in 1 195.'^ 

^ D. B., Wichingebi. Cf. Wigston, Leicester, D. B. Wickingestone ; 
Whissendine, Rutland, D, B. Wichingdene ; Wigginthorp, Yorkshire, 
D. B. Wickenatorp. 

2 D. B., Westledebi. ^ gee CI. and Vigf. Diet., vikingr. 

* These aristocratic vikings were but a few amongst the many. The 
majority of them were pirates by profession, and devoted their whole life to 
fighting and plundering, 

^ See Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 222. 

^ In later times vikingr became synonymous with robber. So, too, 
Goliath is termed a vikingr ; so that the meaning not only underwent some 
change, but became much more general. 

' Vikingr appears as a personal name in the Landnamabok, and several 
times on Runic monuments. 



102 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

But we proceed to Westleby (Westledebi), a name 
even more interesting and suggestive than that of the 
mother parish, which has just been noticed. Westledebi 
means the abode of the westward traveller. What gives 
peculiar interest to this name is the fact that, to the 
mind of the Norseman, the West was identified with 
Britain. Vestan mesLntfrom England ; vestr, to England} 
No matter whether the pirate set sail from Denmark or 
Iceland, if he steered in the direction of our shores, he 
was said to be sailing westward ; so much so that vestr 
viking meant a freebooting expedition to England ; ^ 
and thus, were the evidence of history wanting, we might 
conclude that the Norseman drew his supplies more 
freely from this land than from any other. And here, 
in this name of Westleby, we have the memorial of some 
Danish chief, who, from frequent visits to our coast, had 
gained for himself the soubriquet of Vestrlede, the West- 
ward Farer. It is somewhat singular that two colonists, 
named respectively Vikingr and Vestrlede, should have 
settled within a mile of one another ; or were Vikingr 
and Vestrlede one and the same .'' 

But we pass to another name of the same type. Had 
collective Lincolnshire been permitted to select the 
birthplace of the poet laureate, a name more characteristic 
of the county could hardly have been chosen than 
Somersby.^ With this Somersby near Horncastle, which 
will be for ever associated with the name of Tennyson, 

^ Cl. and Vigf. Diet. 

- Ibid., vikmgr — freebooter, pirate ; viking = a freebooting voyage, 
piracy. * D. B., Sumerdebi. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEJNIENT. IO3 

may be joined a Somerby ^ near Grantham, another near 
Gainsborough,^ and a third close to Brigg.^ 

In Domesday Book these villages appear as Sumer- 
lede, Sumerdebi, and Somertebi ; it is therefore probable 
that they all represent the well-known name of Summer- 
lede (Old Norse, SumarliSi), the summer sailor.'^ It is 
interesting to find the same name appearing in Somer- 
leyton, in Suffolk, which is the curious, though natural, 
corruption of Sumerledetiin.^ Somerleyton(like Somerby, 
Wickenby, and Westleby) is an historical memorial of 
the Danish inroads ; nor are we surprised to find it 
surrounded by such names as Lowestoft, Barnby, Ashby, 
Kirby, Lound, and Thorpe. 

SumarliSi, in its origin, was scarcely more than a 
synonym for viking ; ^ and the one, as naturally as the 
other, passed into use as a personal name. The name 
was descriptive of the life. Genuine summer-farers were 
these vikings. The withering east wind, that too often 
sweeps our coast in April, was a godsend to these sailors, 
and lustily could they have sung with our own poet — 

' D. B., Sumerbi, Sumertebi, and Sumerdebi. 

- D. B., Sumerdebi, Sumertebi. 

^ D. B., Summerlede, Somertebi. Besides these, Usselby is called in 
D. B. Summerlede. Usselby is a corrupt form of Osulfbi, and evidently 
has nothing to do with Summerlede, which was most likely the name of 
some place in the immediate neighbourhood. 

* Literally, summer slider. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., siimar.) 

^ Thorpe's Diplom. Angl. Mv. Sax., and D. B. ; so too Somerby, 
Leicestershire, is (D. B.) Sumerlidebie and Sumerdebi. 

* The Saxon Chronicle (a. D. 871) says there arrived mycil siimarltSa, 
i.e. a great fleet of vikings. It is, therefore, evident that, apart from their 
function as personal names, Vikingr and SumarliSi were regarded as con- 
vertible terms. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., siiinar ; also Professor Munch 's 
Chronica Regum Mannice.) 



104 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

" Welcome, black North-Easter ! 
O'er the German foam ; 
O'er the Danish moorlands, 
From thy frozen home. " 

Loosing from their own shore with the first favouring 
breezes in the spring time, they were to be found, through 
the long summer months, on every coast but their own, 
and returned to the North on the approach of winter to 
enjoy their ill-gotten wealth. 

This name appears not only to have enjoyed great 
popularity amongst the first Danish settlers in Lin- 
colnshire, but to have continued in favour for some 
generations. It is found in various forms among the 
tenants of Edward the Confessor's time,^ and from the 
fact that it often figures among the coiners of Lincoln 
city,^ we may conclude that it was a name of some 
distinction. 

In connection with the foregoing, it may be appro- 
priate to mention several names which, from being 
compounded with the Old Norse Kongr, may betoken 
the high rank and leading position of the original 
settlers. The names of Coningsby,^ Conisholme, 
Conisby,'* Coneysby, Kingthorpe,^ seem to indicate the 

' Summerlede and Summerled, as well as Summerdus and Summerde, 
which appear to be merely contractions of the same name. 

^ Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 119. In the reign of Ethelred, 
969, the name of Sumerlede is found on coins struck at Deptford, Notting- 
ham, York, and Lincoln. 

^ D. B., Cuningesbi. * D. B., Cunesbi. 

* D. B. , Chinetorp. Kingerby can hardly be added to the list above 
given. The ancient spelling varied very much, e.g. D. B., Chenebi ; 
C. T. T., Chimeribi; PI. A., Kygnerdebi ; C. R. C, Kignerby ; L N., 
Kynyerby ; C. I. (Edward I.), Kynardby. Perhaps the most probable 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. IO5 

spots, which various Danish chiefs chose for their 
Enghsh home. O. N. Kommgr (contracted Kongr) is a 
patronymic from konr, nobleman, and is represented in 
Enghsh by king. It is common to all the Teutonic, 
as well as Scandinavian tongues, and appears in Anglo- 
Saxon cynig, O. H. G. chiminc, German kouig, Swedish 
kung and kommg, Danish konge. 

" The student of history," says Mr. Freeman, 
"finds the coming of the Dane marked by little more 
than a change of name in a single ofiFxe. The shire 
is no longer ruled by its ealdorman, but by its earl." ^ 
In the Yarlesgates, of which there are at least two, 
one near Alford, the other in Winterton, we have, in its 
original ^ Norse form, this title of earl, which has taken 
so distinguished a place in the peerage, and therefore 
the history of England. It is somewhat singular that 
whilst this title, which was introduced from Denmark 
and is always in the Saxon Chronicle connected with 
the Danes, took so firm a root in this country, the name 
and office alike died out in Scandinavia before the end 
of the thirteenth century. In regard to the Yarles- 
gates of which we are speaking, we must not conclude 
that they are memorials of the original Danish settle- 
ment ; rather we may suppose the name to have been 

source may be found in the nickname Kyngir (Annal. Islandici), which, in 
the Index, is rendered '''' devorator \e\. prodigiosus ;" but another reading 
gives Klingir. 

' Norman Conquest, vol. v. p. 519. 

^ Original, that is, in regard to its importation to England. The ear- 
liest form of the word was earl, as we spell it now ; but before the Norse 
conquests it had assumed the form oijarl, and as such it was introduced by 
the Danes. (See CI. and Vigf. Ti\cX.,ja7-l.) 



I06 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

given at a later period, and to be chiefly interesting as 
a survival of Danish pronunciation.^ 

We may now consider some of the place-names in 
our county, which have preserved a record, however 
imperfect, of what these westward wanderers did when 
they reached our shores. 

We may first glance at the names that bear witness 
to the change of faith, which happily took place among 
the Danes soon after their arrival in England. At 
least six Kirkbys declare the fact that the Norsemen 
were not long in discarding their heathen worship, and 
accepting the creed of Christendom. The word kirk 
is to be found wherever the Northmen settled and 
embraced the faith of Christ.'^ Kirkby and Kirby are 
extremely common in what was the Danelagh, but 
are almost confined to that part of England.^ In Ice- 
land Kirkby is represented by Kirkjubser, in the 
Orkneys by Kirkwall, in Normandy by Querqueville 
and Carqueville, in Denmark by Qverkbye and 
Kirkerup, while the Flemish Dunquerque is reproduced 
in our own county by Dunkirk, near Wootton, perhaps 
also, after a corrupt fashion, in Dunker, a spot in the 

' Cf. the Lincolnshire provincialism jtwr-w?//', i.e. earth-nut ; Old Norse 
jor^, gen. jar6ar ; cf. also Yarborough for Jerdeburgh. 

- So Mr. Isaac Taylor, in Words and Places, p. 228. It is not, how- 
ever, improbable that this form of the word may be charged to the Anglian 
settlement as well. (See J. A. H. M., English Language, Encyclopsedia 
Britannica. ) 

* Possibly Mr. Green's posthumous work will show that the conversion 
of the Danes to Christianity, and their acceptance of an ecclesiastical organi- 
zation, conduced towards the settlement and consolidation of the Danelagh. 
(See Mr. Green's interesting remarks upon the influence of the Church upon 
the nation at an earlier period ; Making of England, p. 418, and elsewhere.) 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. IO7 

parish of Messingham. The word occurs as a suffix 
in Alearkirk ; also in Gosberdkirk, the more ancient 
name of the present Gosberton. 

The name of Kirkby has an interest independent 
of its Danish origin, for it appears to draw a contrast 
between places that, at that early date, had churches 
and those that had not. Now, happily, each parish has 
its own, but a thousand years ago the houses of God 
were few in the land. Although a large number must 
have been built during the two hundred years that 
elapsed between the Danish settlement and the Norman 
Conquest (and especially during the reign of Edward 
the Confessor), it is the exception, rather than the rule, 
when Domesday Book mentions a church in connection 
with a village ; and it is probable that in the more 
sequestered parts of the Wold district, many of the 
smaller centres of population remained without a church 
of their own long after the Norman Conquest. A 
modern writer ^ compares the state of things in England 
a thousand years ago, to that which now exists in many 
of the British colonies, where but a single church and 
clergyman are assigned to a district fifty miles in 
circumference ; so that these Kirkbys, distributed over 
the Danelagh, may be regarded as the sites of mother 
churches, to which surrounding parishes stood in some- 
thing of a filial relation, 

Biscathorpe is also an interesting record of the 
conversion of the Danes.^ Since the place is called 

' Isaac Taylor, Words and Places, p. 228. 

- There is also a Bishopthorpe in the north-west corner of the county. 



I08 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Torp as well as Biscoptorp ^ in Domesday Book, we 
may perhaps conclude that the former was the name 
given by the first Northern settlers, and had not, at 
the time of the Survey, been completely superseded 
by the more pretentious title that has descended to us. 
When, however, we find that, in the time of Edward 
the Confessor, two vassals of the Bishop of Lincoln 
held land in this parish, we may perhaps infer that the 
modern name, though not then in exclusive use, was 
well established.^ 

The names of Crosby and Croxby^ also commemorate 
the spread of Christianity. They may possibly be relics 
of superstition, but at least of a superstition more pure 
and elevating than the worship of Odin. Amongst the 
partially enlightened and half-Christianized Northmen 
(such as we may suppose the Anglo-Danes to have been, 
when these names were given),* cross-worship became, to 

' Cf. Byscopstoft of L. C. D., modern Bistoft. The Biscop in Den- 
mark has in most cases been contracted into Bis, or Bisp (cf. Bistrup and 
Bisserup in Sj^lland) ; cf. Bispham, Yorks, D. B. Biscopham. 

- There is an interesting link between the Church of Iceland and that 
of Lincolnshire in the Icelandic bishop (perhaps bishops), who studied 
theology in the twelfth century at the Scholse Cancellarii of Lincoln. 
" Thorlak, Bishop of Skalholt, the ecclesiastical lawgiver and first saint of 
the Icelandic Church (whose day is still their national festival), studied first 
at Paris and then at Lincoln, about a.d. 1158-1160, and found, according 
to the Biskupa Sogur, that he gained more sound learning there than in 
France. Saint Thorlak's nephew and successor, Paul (died a.d. 121 i), 
also studied in England, and although the place is not recorded, it may 
well have been that in which his uncle studied before him." (The Kalendar 
of the ScholK Cancellarii in Lincoln Cathedral, p. 27, 1880-1881 ; see also 
E. W. Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury), The Cathedral, p. 26.) 

^ D. B., Croxbi. 

* Sir G. W. Dasent's words may, with little doubt, be applied to our 
Lincolnshire Danes : " On first conversion the pure doctrines of Chris- 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. lOQ 

some extent, a substitute for the older and falser worship 
at the Jwrgar, or high places, on which the pagan altars 
were erected.^ Yet, even if this were the case in Ener- 
land, — if these and similar crosses erected by the Danes 
on their first reception of Christianity, strongly savoured, 
like those in Iceland, of superstition, and became local 
centres of an ignorant worship, they still bear witness to 
a great and decisive step in the direction of truth. Old 
things had, in some measure, passed away, even if all 
things had not as yet become new. Many local names 
in Iceland, by a similar prefix, testify to the change of 
faith which took place in that island in the tenth century, 
e.g. Kross-dalr, Krossa-nes, Krossa-vi'k, Kross-holt.^ 

From ecclesiastical occupation, we may turn to 
political divisions, which, first imposed by the Danish 
settlers, have survived to the present day. First amongst 
these we must place the Wapentake. On entering the 
county of Lincoln, a stranger from the south or west is 
surprised to find what he would call a hundi'ed generally 
known as a zvapentake. The introduction of this term 
into England has been the subject of much controversy ; 
but both the word itself and its geographical distribution 
point unmistakably to the Danes.^ The word is found 

tianity were merely the possession of a few, while the creed of the common 
herd was little more than the garbled blending of the most jarring tenets 
and wildest superstitions of both faiths." (Burnt Njal, Introduction, 
p. cxcviii.) 

> CI. and Vigf. Diet., Kross. * Ibid. 

* Sir Henry Ellis thinks it probable that it was one of the earliest terms 
used by the Saxons in this country. (Introduction to Domesday Book, vol. i. 
pp. 180-185.) Even Professor Worsaae speaks with great hesitation of its 
Danish origin. (Danes and Northmen, p. 159.) But probably Professor 



no LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

in Anglo-Saxon laws, but was borrowed from the Norse- 
men. The prefix represents the Old Norse vdpn, more 
faithfully than the Anglo-Saxon lucspcn, whilst take is 
one of the purely Scandinavian words which have found 
their way into classical English. Thus then, the original 
form of the term was vdpna-tak^ (Danish vaabentag), 
which was Anglicized as ivcepen-getcBC, and often appears 
in the Latinized forms of wapentachiiun and wapentagium. 
Vdpna-tak appears to have possessed various meanings, 
or modifications of the same meaning, amongst the 
Scandinavians, but its special application to county 
divisions in England is explained in the laws of Edward 
the Confessor.^ From these it appears that, when a new 
chief of such division was appointed, he met, at the usual 
place of assembly,^ the principal persons of the district, 
who touched his spear with theirs, in token of fealty.* 

Skeat's remarks upon the word will be regarded by most readers as con- 
clusive. He treats it as unquestionably Norse. (See Etymological Dictionary, 
wapentake!) 

* See CI. and Vigf. Diet., vdpna-tak, which is there rendered weapon- 
grasping, which it could, and did, under certain circumstances, mean. 
But Professor Skeat points out that CI. and Vigf. have omitted, in their 
remarks upon vapua-tak, to state that taka means to touch, as well as to 
grasp. (See below.) 

- Thorpe, Ancient Laws, i. 455. Professor Stubbs, however, thinks 
this an unsatisfactory explanation (Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 96). 
^ Doubtless the spot on which the Thing met. (See Chapter xii.) 

* " Vdpna-tak, literally a weapon-taking or a weapon-touching, hence a 
vote of consent so expressed, and lastly, the subdivision of the shire. " (Skeat, 
Etym. Diet., who also refers to the interesting notes on the Scotch word 
wapinschaw, in Jamieson's Scotch Diet., vol. iv, p. 729.) The passage, so 
often quoted in reference to the word wapejttake, from Tacitus, refers to the 
contact and accompanying clash, rather than the seizing of weapons : "si 
placuit sententia, frameas concutiunt ; honoratissimum assensus genus est 
armis laudare." (Germ., chap, xi.) 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. Ill 

To transfer the name of such a ceremony to the area 
which it affected was a very natural use of language. 

The etymological argument is strongly corroborated 
by the geographical distribution of tliis peculiar term ; 
for we learn that it was confined to the counties of York, 
Lincoln, Notts, Leicester, and Northants, as far as 
Watling Street} and we thus find that its use was almost 
conterminous with that part of Danelagh, which was 
most thickly peopled by Norsemen. Thus, independently 
of the word itself, an irresistibly strong presumption is 
created that the term was of Danish introduction. 

The Ridings of Lincolnshire are less familiar than its 
wapentakes, and the term is, perhaps, generally thought 
to belong exclusively to Yorkshire. Lincolnshire, how- 
ever, like the sister county, is divided into Ridings, and 
though the term is not now in frequent use, it is con- 
stantly met with in early documents.^ The Scandi- 
navian origin of the word, in the sense of a territorial 
division, is as clear as in the case of the wapentake.^ 
The word has lost an initial th or t, for the original form 
was Thriding or Triding, and it is very easy to see how, 
through misdivision or slovenly pronunciation, this 
omission would take place, when the word was preceded 

^ The wapentake now survives only in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and 
Nottinghamshire. 

^ E.g. Hundred Rolls, Sud thrything, Suth threheng, Suth treing, etc. 

* See Skeat, Etym. Diet., Riding. Worsaae speaks also with much 
confidence to the same effect. (Danes and Northmen, p. 158.) See, too, 
Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings : " Wherever the Northern 
system was thoroughly carried out, the lands thus allotted amongst the 
odallers were divided into three separate districts or Trythings." (Vol. ii. 
P- 433-) 



112 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

by north, south, east, or west.^ It is to Norway and 
Iceland that we must look for the principal use of the 
term in its territorial sense. In Southern Norway the 
petty kingdoms, or fylki, were not only divided into 
halves and fourths, but also into thirds, tJirithjmigar ; 
whilst in Iceland every thing was likewise divided into 
three parts.^ In Denmark, however, this division was not 
unknown, as is proved by the use of the word thrithing 
in the Liber Census Daniae, and it was from that country, 
doubtless, rather than from Norway, that it was intro- 
duced into England.^ 

If we venture to pass from the region of compara- 
tive certainty to that of conjecture, we may here pause 
for a moment over the name of Flixborough. Situated 
in the north-west angle of the county, placed on high 
ground well adapted for defence, and overlooking the 
mouth of the Trent, Flixborough may well have formed 
a centre for some of the earliest colonists from Scandi- 
navia. Although the ancient spelling of this name 
would not suggest any corruption in the present form,* 
yet the analogy of Norwegian place-names makes it not 
altogether improbable that, in Flixborough, we have a 
slight modification of an original Fylkisburg. In ancient 
Norway fylki was more or less the equivalent of our 

' The real divisions of Lincolnshire are North, Mid, and South. 

^ CI. and Vigf. Diet., tliriihjmig}- ; also Worsaae, Danes and North- 
men, p. 158. 

^ To thrid is an obsolete Scotticism, meaning to divide into three parts ; 
and possibly the Lincolnshire thribs = three (Brogden), is a corruption of 
thrids. 

^ D. B., Flichesburg. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. II3 

sliire/ and the word is still enshrined in the nomenclature 
of the country, appearing in the following local names — 
Flikshaug,^ Flesakr,^ and Flekkeshov.^ This conjectural 
origin of Flixborough receives some slight countenance 
from the fact, that the adjoining village of Normanby 
marks a Norwegian settlement,^ whilst the connection 
with Scandinavian colonists is further illustrated by a 
Stather ^ on the Trent side. 

We will close this chapter with a notice of some 
of those names which may commemorate the deadly 
struggle that ended in the complete overthrow and 
partial expulsion of the English by the Norseman. 

In Hougham, Hough-on-the-Hill, Haugh, Haugham,"^ 
Hogsthorpe and Hogsbeck,^ we have, most likely, vary- 

' Cl. and Vigf. 'Dici.,fyl/d (sec also Worsaae's Danes and Northmen, 

p. 1^59). 

- Formerly Fylkishaugr. ' Formerly Fylkisakr. 

* Formerly Fylkishof ; but this is not certain. For these names, see 
Rygh's Minder om Guderne, pp. 12-14. 

* See Chapter v. 

* Flixborough Stather. It may be added that Mr. Edmunds derives 
the name from St. Felix, but he gives no authority ; the church of Flix- 
borough is dedicated to All Saints. 

' The present pronunciation of Ilaugham (Haffam) as also of Hough 
and Hougham, follows the analogy of I'Jerg, which has passed into ba>-f ; 
we may also compare thrtiff for through, and biff for bough, though this 
last is varied by bczv. On the other hand, enough has become encw. 

* Domesday Book does not help us in regard to these names ; quite the 
reverse. Hough and Haugh are Hag and liage ; Haugham is Holtham 
(see chap. xiii. ); Hougham is Hecham ; and Hogsthorpe, Herdetorp. In 
the case of the last, it is clear, from an entry in PI. A., that Herdetorp 
and Hogsthorp were distinct places, since they are mentioned side by side. 
It is, of course, quite possible that the D. B. rendering of Haugh and 
Hough is the true one. If so, the names are robbed of all their romance 
and reduced to the commonplace meaning of an enclosed pasture land, — hagi, 
which is a frequent name for farms in the Landnamabok. Have, the 

I 



114 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

ing forms of the old Norse Jiaugr, a funeral mound. It 
would be rash to assert that all these names were given 
by the Danes, to commemorate battles they fought and 
mounds they raised with their own hands. It is likely 
that some, at least, of these monuments are far more 
ancient than the earliest notice of Danish inroads. But 
most of these names were, perhaps, first pronounced and 
given by Danish lips ; and, in some cases, at least, may 
well commemorate deeds of Danish prowess. It is 
certain, unless we suppose, indeed, that the Danish occu- 
pation was effected almost without loss on the part of 
the conquerors, that many a viking and his followers 
found a last resting-place on some of our Lincolnshire 
hills. The whole country side abounds with sepulchral 
records. The loftiest spots upon the wolds are often 
crowned by hive or bowl-shaped mounds, that mark the 
burial places of forgotten heroes. The Viking, if he 
might choose his place of rest, would point to the heights, 
and especially those that overlook the sea. There, he 
believed, his spirit could abide in peace, cheered by the 
extended range of view, and refreshed by the cool breeze 
that sweeps the hills.^ The effect on our minds may be 
different ; 

" Above that grave the east winds blow, 
And from the marshlands drifting slow 

Danish form of liagi, with our own haw-Jiaio and hawtlioni, bring us very 
near to Haugh. The Scotch word liaiigh, haitch — low-lying land, properly 
on the borders of a river, and sometimes overflowed ; this definition cer- 
tainly does not harmonize with the situation of the places now under dis- 
cussion, but Jamieson inclines to derive the Scotch word from German 
hage, and such a derivation is, to some extent, confirmed by the fact that the 
modern Lincolnshire Haugh appears in D. B. as Hage. 
^ Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 242. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. II5 

The sea-fog comes, with evermore 
The wave-wash of a lonely shore, 
And sea-bird's melancholy cry, 
As Nature fain would typify 
The sadness of a closing scene." ^ 

At Haugham, the very first object that meets the 
eye on approaching the village, is a large and conspicuous 
barrow flanked by smaller ones.^ It is not quite im- 
possible that they mark the spot, where the men of 
Louth and district made a final stand against the Dane, 
as he advanced through the oakwoods that still clothe 
the peaceful slopes of Cawthorpe and Burwell. 

Of many possible derivations that might be suggested 
for the names of Hogsthorpc and Hogsbeck (which will 
be found close together upon the map), by far the most 
probable is Old Norse Jiangr, of which the modern 
Swedish form is Jiog, and the ancient Danish hoghe? 
Thus, while we have Haugsnes in Iceland, we find Hogby 
in Sweden, and Hoghaeslef ^ in Lib. Cens. Daniae. Is it 
altogether extravagant to connect Hogsthorpe and Hogs- 
beck with the Danish camp at Withern, — probably the 
most perfect specimen of such a work that our county 
can show } This camp is evidently the work of a well- 

* Whittier, Lost Occasion, 

' The well-known tumuli called Bully Hills, at Tathwell, are within 
half a mile, and clearly visible from Haugham. 

* The only other derivation worth mentioning is Old Norse haiikr, 
"hawk, which in the Danish form of hog, is found in local names ; e.g. 
Hogsherred ; L. C. D., Hoxhsereth. 

* Modern Hojslef; cf. also Hcighrthorp (13S9), now Hoistrup ; also 
Hogsetter in the Shetlands, which Captain Thomas, in his paper on place- 
names in the Hebrides, points out is from haugr. According to the new 
edition of Jamieson's Scotch Diet., hoeg is still used in Shetland for a 
sepulchral mound. 



Il6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

disciplined force, and lies within an easy march of Hogs- 
thorpe, which may thus derive its name from one of the 
fierce conflicts that sealed the fate of Lincolnshire in the 
ninth century. '^ 

The name of Toothill, which, in idea, is closely con- 
nected with the foregoing places, has been discussed in 
the pages of Notes and Queries? Hone's Year Book 
gives upwards of sixty places, where he fancies the name 
can be traced,^ and our best dictionaries deal at some 
length with the prefix.^ 

The name does not appear to be confined to any 
particular district of England. In Lincolnshire there is 
a village, near Alford, called Tothill,^ remarkable for a 
lofty circular mound known as Toothill. The same 
term is also applied to earthworks at Little Cotes and 
Healing, in the neighbourhood of Grimsby.'^ There is 
very general agreement that the name indicates an eleva- 
tion, which commands a view of the surrounding country, 
and the Anglo-Saxon word totiaii, to sprout up,'^ has, for 

' Earthworks and camps abound in this neighbourhood, and are by 
local tradition ascribed to the Danes, though this may have arisen from the 
fact that they were last occupied by that race. 

- Series II., vol. viii. 

* But Hone maintains that Toot or Tot preserves the memory of the 
Celtic deity Taute, Mercury, and many of the instances he has collected 
appear to have no connection with our Lincolnshire Toothills. 

* See Todd's Johnson. Latham endorses Todd. 

^ D. B., Totele. The modern Taaderup m Denmark is Totcethorp in 
L. C. D. 

" Military earthworks arc an exceedingly common feature in connection 
with places of this name. I suspect Cockhill, the name of a very high 
artificial mound at Burgh (only a few miles from Tothill), noticed by 
Stukeley, to be a corruption of Tothill (Stukeley, Itin. Curios., Iter. xi. p. 29). 

' Totian — eminere, tanquafii cornn in f route. See also Todd's Johnson,.. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 11/ 

the most part, been suggested as its source. This key- 
word, however, is not peculiar to one language. Old 
Norse tutna is connected with Anglo-Saxon totian ; and 
tiitna claims kindred with several words, which may, quite 
as likely as any Anglo-Saxon root, have supplied the 
prefix in Toothill. Old Norse ti'ita, tota and toti^ mean- 
ing a teat-like protuberance, are all connected with tutna, 
and therefore more distantly with totian. The fact there- 
fore is, that Toothill can be derived with equal reason 
from Anglo-Saxon and Norse, and the most probable 
inference is that, in some cases, the name may be traced 
to English, in others, to Danish parentage. When, for 
instance, we find a Tothill in London,^ or a Toothill at 
Romsey, we may naturally trace the name to English 
influences ; when we meet with it in the neighbourhood 
of Grimsby or Mablethorpe, we may as reasonably con- 
nect it with the Danes. 

Spellow Hills are situated within a short distance of 
Spilsby, and it is natural to associate the two names 
in our thoughts, even though they may have no real 
historical connection. The Spellow Hills are three con- 
spicuous barrows in Langton by Spilsby.'-^ It hardly 

which gives, as one of the meanings of the verb toot, to stand out, to be 
prominent. Stratmann's Dictionary of Old English has the following 
remarks : ^^ tote, Old Dutch, apex ; tote, totehil, specula, Prompt. Parv., p. 
497; toothil— speculam {¥.. V., watch-tower), Wiccl., Isa. xxi. 5 ; tootcrc 
= speculator (E. V., watchman), Wiccl., Isa. xxi. 6; totcn, Anglo-Saxon 
totian, toot ; spectarc, spcculari." In Lincolnshire (according to Brogden), 
tooting still means peering, peeping. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic 
Words gives as one meaning of tot or tote, a tuft of grass ; also, to bulge out ; 
Totchill, an eminence, Cheshire. "Totehyll, montaignette " (Palsgrave, 
I53C»)- ' Tothill Fields, now replaced by Vincent Square. 

" There is a Spellow Hill in Yorkshire. 



Il8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

needed the discovery of a large quantity of human bones 
in these mounds to show that they mark the site of some 
ancient battle.-^ The very name suggests it ; for Spcl- 
low, evidently a corrupt form of Spell How, is most 
probably connected with Old Norse spclla^ to destroy. 

That the Norseman who gave his name to Spilsbyr 
close at hand, had anything to do with the slaughter at 
Langton, is doubtless very improbable. We may, how- 
ever, be permitted to connect the two names, and imagine 
it possible, however unlikely, that the hero of Langton 
made his home at Spilsby. This charming little town 
is now the centre of the most thoroughly Danish district 
in Lincolnshire, perhaps in England ; for pleasantness 
of situation it is rivalled by few places in the county \ 
nor is it hard to fancy that a chief, who had fought his 
decisive battle hard by, should choose his portion amid 
the picturesque and fertile fields that sloped toward the 
fenland. 

Times have indeed changed since Hundolf, Asgeir, 
and Spillir ^ settled in this corner of the wolds ; but the 
spirit of adventure that brought them to our shores is 
not extinct among their descendants. The statue of 
Sir John Franklin,"* standing in Spilsby market-place, 
reminds us that the daring love of ocean life still has its 

* The Spellow Hills nre also known by the name of the Hills of iJie 
Slain, but this may possibly date from the discovery of human bones in 
these mounds. Stukeley, however, apparently speaking of these tumuli, 
calls them Celtic (Iter. i. p. 29). 

^ Spella = spilla. There is also a noun, spell, damage. 
' Spille is amongst the tenants (temp. Edward the Confessor). See 
D. E.) 

* Born at Spilsby, 1786. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 19 

place amongst us, and may find a nobler sphere of action 
than the vikines ever realized. Had Franklin's lot been 
cast a thousand years ago, he would doubtless have been 
among the bravest of those " sea- wolves," who overran 
every shore and preyed upon every race ; but, born as he 
was at the close of the eighteenth century, he was des- 
tined to represent the spirit of the present age, and die 
in the cause of science. Again and again he courted the 
dangers of the Polar sea, and almost in the words of 
the homesick Frithiof, might have said, — 

"The flag on my mast streameth back to the North, to the North, to my 
fatherland dear ; 
I'll follow the course of the heavenly winds ; back again to my Northland 
I'll steer.'" 

Back he steered to the Northland in 1S45 to return no 
more, but to add his name to the long succession of sea- 
faring heroes, who have adorned the annals of England.^ 
Yarborough camp in Croxton, from the fact of 
Roman coins having been found upon the spot, is 
believed to have been a work of the imperial legions. 
Like most of the fortified hills in the county, it was 

1 Frithiof Saga. Translated by Rev. W. L. Blackley. 

- We might here insert a notice of the Bully Hills, a name which in 
various parts of the county is given to lofty, bowl-shaped tumuli. The 
Bishop of Nottingham (Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society's Report, 
1858) thinks it probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning a swell- 
ing, or partly spherical object. The Norse word is not given, but it may 
be bolgjia, to grow swollen, or bolginn, swollen ; Danish, bulne, biillen. 
Perhaps a more likely derivation would be bbllr, a ball, used geographically 
to denote a peak. Again, Danish biilc, a swelling or protuberance (Latin, 
bulla), may be the original of our Bully Hills. In Scotland, bool = any- 
thing of a curved form ; bo/ile = round, which Jamieson derives from 
Teutonic hoghel, semicirculus. 



120 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

doubtless occupied by successive races and commanders. 
Its present name, however, appears to have been given, 
or at least modified, by the Danes, who may have been 
the last to hold this strong position, which commands 
not only an extensive inland tract, but also, in some 
measure, the waters of the Humber. 

This camp, which gives a name to a county division, 
and a title to a peer of the realm, is mentioned in the 
Hundred Rolls as Jordeburg and Jertheburg. These 
more ancient forms of the name do not indeed prove its 
derivation from Old Norse jor^^ to the exclusion of 
Anglo-Saxon cor^c, but the present pronunciation was 
clearly established by the Danes, for in compound words 
jdr^ becomes jai'^ar or jar^, and our Yarborough is 
almost identical with the Old Norse jar^borg, an earth- 
work.^ 

It is safe to assume the same origin for Yarborough 
near Louth, which, though it occurs in Domesday Book 
as Gereburg, is found in other early documents as 
Yerdebergh'' and Jordeburgh. "* 

Thus, then, the very names with which we are most 
familiar have enshrined the romance of local history, and 
handed it on to a posterity somewhat in danger of sacri- 

' Old Norsey'i?;^, gen.yarSar. 

* CL and Vigf. Ti\c1.,jar^borg, earthworks, an earth stronghold. 
' Test. Nev., and I. N. 

* PI. A. To the foregoing names, and in close connection witli them, 
may be added Barrowby, which in D. B. appears as Bergebi ; so Barrowby 
in Yorkshire, in D. B. is Bergebi. We find an analogous change in at least 
one Danish place-name. The "present Bjerre was Byargh in the time of 
L. C. D. ; but the ancient byargh or hyivrgh is more usually represented by 
bicrge on the modern w\?.\). 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 121 

ficing the poetry of life to the idol of material progress. 
The plough has not yet destroyed all these relics of a 
bygone age ; let us be thankful that when agriculture 
has done its worst, the names will still survive to tell us 
something of the past. 

Such spots and the names that cling to them may 
possess charms for few ; but for the few the charm is 
very strong. Often, as the lover of the past stands upon 
the mound where some ancient warrior sleeps, he may 
recall Hans Andersen's story of the hero's grave.-^ The 
scene is laid in Denmark. Amid a varied scene of 
water, wood and park, there stands a lofty heap of 
stones, commemorating the great deeds of a forgotten 
past. On it now flourish the bramble and the thorn ; 
over it waves the foliage of oak and beech. " Here," 
says the moon, who tells the story, "here is poetry in 
nature ! How, think you, is it read by man ? I will tell 
you what I overheard there only last night. First came 
two wealthy farmers, driving along the road that runs 
close by. ■ Fine trees yonder,' says one. * Yes,' replies 
the other, ' ten loads of fire-wood in each, I should think ; 
the winter is hard, and last year we made fourteen rix 
dollars a cord.' And on they drove. Here's another 
carriage. ' The road's very bad.' ' It's those confounded 
trees,' returns the driver, ' not a breath of wind can get 
to it from the sea.' And they too are gone. Then 
comes the diligence. The travellers are all asleep as 
they pass the lovely spot. The coachman blows his 
horn, but only because he knows he does it well, and 
' Skoven, H. C. Andersen. 



122 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

there is a good echo here. And so the diligence has- 
hurried by. It is soon followed by a carriage with six 
passengers. Four are fast asleep ; a fifth is thinking of 
his new frock-coat ; the sixth leans over to the driver, 
and asks if there is anything remarkable about the heap^ 
of stones. ' No,' says the fellow, ' only a stone-heap ;. 
but the trees are remarkable.' 'You don't say so.' 
* Ay ; most remarkable ; you see, in winter, when the 
snow lies deep and everything is covered up by it, these 
trees serve me as a mark, and so I'm able to follow the 
road and keep out of the sea ; very remarkable.' And 
on he drives." ^ So they pass, one after another, either 
asleep, or intent upon the gains, the vanities, the 
commonplaces of life, blind to the beauty of the scene,, 
deaf to the blended voices of history and nature. And 
as Hans Andersen thus took a stone-heap for his text,, 
so has it been the aim of the preceding pages to prove 
that familiar names, like Haugham, Hogsthorpe, and 
Yarborough, have something to tell, which may arrest,, 
if only for a moment, the thoughts of a world that ever 
hurries on, engrossed in the business or pleasure of the 
moment. 

^ There is much more In Andersen's tale, and the endhig is full of the 
tenderest pathos. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT — PART II. 

" O triumph for the Fiends of Lust and Wrath 

Ne'er to be told, yet ne'er to be forgot, 
What wanton horrors mark'd their wreckful path ! 

The peasant butcher'd in his ruin'd cot, 
The hoary priest even at the altar shot, 

Childhood and age given o'er to sword and flame. 
Woman to infamy ; — no crime forgot. 

By which inventive demons might proclaim 
Immortal hate to man, and scorn of God's great name ! " 

Vision of Don Rodej'ick. 

In any considerable area there will be found local 
names denoting territorial demarcation and geographical 
position. Not a few of these in Lincolnshire point back 
to the Danish conquest and settlement. 

The village name of Markby, near Alford, brings us 
into contact with a very interesting feature of earlj^ 
German and Scandinavian life. The word mark, in this 
connection, has three distinct meanings, yet all three 
closely connected, and one arising from the other. In 
the first place it was the waste or common land, con- 
sisting of forest, mountain, moor and fen, which was the 
joint property of the tribe, — ground which (unlike the 



124 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

arable land) admitted no private rights, but was open, 
for purposes of hunting and grazing, to the whole 
community.^ These common rights were strictly tribal. 
No stranger must be found, except on harmless and 
peaceable errands, within this area, which was looked 
upon as consecrated to the use of the tribe, and terrible 
was the vengeance wreaked on trespassers, who could not 
prove the innocence of their intentions. The woods of 
the mark were pictured as the haunt of spirits friendly 
to the rightful owner, but sworn foes of the alien ; a 
belief that, in some shape or other, long survived the use 
of the mark, and perhaps lingers on to the present day 
in superstitious associations that still cling to the deep 
shade of the forest.^ 

The boundaries of this common land were carefully 
denoted by trees, hills, brooks, burial-mounds, and other 
conspicuous objects, the ceremony and act of demarca- 
tion being accompanied, as some maintain, by solemn 
religious rites. For deciding questions that might arise 
in regard to such lands there were special courts, and 
the hill on which the meeting was held went by the 
name of the mearc-bcorgh. 

In the second place, the viark meant the boundary, 
or land-mark, which divided one territorial district from 
another. We have already seen how jealously the rights 

* Kemble, Saxons in England, voL i. chap. 2, edition of 1876; see also 
Green's Making of England, pp. 182, 190. 

* Skratti, whose memory and name are preserved in our "Old Scratch," 
appears to have been especially connected with woods, much like the Latin 
faun and the Greek satyr. (Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (Stallybrass), 
vol. ii. p. 4S0. ) 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 125 

of this common property were maintained, how carefull}'- 
its limits were assigned and guarded ; such being the 
case, it is easy to understand that the one word mark 
came to express the two ideas, though which of the two 
meanings was prior in point of time it is difficult to say.^ 

Amonest the Germans the mark had also a still 
more important, and certainly derivative, meaning, viz, 
the community of families that had settled within these 
ascertained boundaries, families known by one commxon 
name, with the addition of the patronymic ing. 

With this last meaning our Lincolnshire Markby has 
nothing to do ; but, that the name commemorates such 
common rights of pasture as we have referred to, and, 
moreover, that those rights survived, in some form, to a 
comparatively recent date, is curiously proved by the 
following passage from an ancient deed, relating to 
the very place now under discussion : " Si quidem in 
Lindeseia superiori extat prioratus,^ qui Marchby dicitur, 
longas ac latas pasturas pro gregibus alendis, inhabitans 
non omnino privato jure, sed communem cum com- 

* Grimm thinks that iiia)x originally denoted forest, from the fact that 
forests were usually the sign or mark of a community. In Old Norse the 
two ideas run into one another ; vi'drk - silva, mark = limes ; see Saxons 
In England, vol. i. p. 42, note ; also CI. and Vigf. Diet. In regard to 
the general use of the word mark in place-names, it may be well to quote 
from CI. and Vigf. Diet., fuork. "When the woodlands were cleared 
and turned into fields, the name remained ; thus in Danish mark means a 
field, an open space." 

* A priory of the Black or Austin Canons was founded here by Ralph 
Fitz-Gilbert previous to the reign of King John. The name of Markby, 
which was given to the place long before the founder built and endowed 
the priory, may be regarded as sufficient proof that Ralph Fitz-Gilbert held 
this property subject to the ancient rights of common pasture. 



126 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

patriotis libertatem ex dono patronorum participans." ^ 
It need scarcely be added that the word is of frequent 
occurrence in the place-names of the North, and such 
instances as Denmark and Finmark will occur to every- 
one. 

The names Utterby and Itterby would seem to 
express a geographical position, which once belonged to 
these places. Utterby is most likely the modern form 
of Utarrbi,'-^ which might signify either an outlying farm 
dependent on a larger establishment, or may denote the 
point to which, when the name was given, the Danish 
immigrants had spread. 

The name of Itterby (D. B., Itrebi,) no longer survives 

except in ancient documents. It represented a part of 

Clee now submerged,^ and would appear to be identical 

in meaning with Utterby, denoting "out-station " (Ytribi),* 

ytri being the usual comparative form of nt. 

In connection with the foregoing, it will be convenient 
to speak of the characteristic name of Enderby. This 
occurs no less than three times in the Lincolnshire 
Directory,^ whilst, in Domesday Book, besides these three 
Enderbys, there is mention of Endretorp, which has since 

' Chron. Lamerc, A.D. 12S9 ; quoted by Kemble (Saxons in England, 
vol. i. p. 480, Appendix A), to illustrate the nature of the ancient mark. 

" Cf. Uttevsum and Utterup, Denmark. On the other hand, Utter- 
slev = Ottarrslev (Denmark) makes it possible that Utterby preserves the 
personal name of Ottarr. 

• Perhaps the immediate proximity of this spot to the sea is the most 
probable explanation of the name. 

■• Cf. Yderby (Denmark), anciently, Ydreby and Utrieby (see Madsen). 
Ydreby is the last village on the promontory of Odden in Drax. 

* There is an Enderby in Leicestershire, and Ainderby(D. B., Endrebi) 
in Yorkshire. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 12/ 

acquired the name of Aisthorpe or Easthorpe, When 
we consider this change from Endretorp to Easthorpe, 
and at the same time bear in mind the situation of the 
three Enderbys, bordering as they do upon that fen, 
which forbade the advance of the Dane, we cannot help 
inferring that the prefix is a geographical term. Enderby 
may well be the modernized form of Endirby, a name 
by which a Norseman would naturally record the fact, 
that he had gone as far as he could or intended to go.^ 

The three Enderbys are distinguished from one 
another by the prefixes, Wood, Bag, and Mavis.^ The 
first of these explains itself Bag is evidently the Danish 
form of Old Norse hak? If we render it into English we 
shall call it Back Enderby, and as it lies considerably to 
the north of Mavis Enderby, it is fair to suppose that, in 
the name of Bag Enderby, is involved the fact of a further 
advance of Danish settlers to the very edge of the Fens. 

The prefix Mavis has given rise to some dispute, 
and probably will continue to do so. It has been 
suggested that it is the Old English word for thrush,* 

' Cl. and Vigf. Diet. Endir is an alternative form of endi, i.e. a limit, 
which is found in many compounds, as ^;/«'/-mark or cnda-v^'xxV, a boundary ; 
^WZ-land, borderland. 

* The three are distinguished in Inqu. Non. (14, 15 Edward III.), as 
Wod, Bag, and Malbis Enderby. 

* Bag is frequently found in Danish names with this force, e.g. Bag- 
gaard, Bagterp. There is a Baggholme Road at Lincoln and Bagmoor in 
Burton-on-Stather. Probably the prefix in these cases is the same as in 
Bag Enderby. It has, however, been surmised (M. and C. Glossary, p. 
12) jthat Bagmoor owes its name to the peat collected there for fuel ; the 
word bags being a time-honoured provincialism meaning peat-fuel, and such 
a derivation is very plausible and even natural. Bag Enderby appears as 
such in the Taxatio Eccles., A.D. 1291. Cf. Bagby, Yorks, D. B., Bagebi. 

■* Edmunds, Names of Places, p. 218. 



128 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

but the general and abundant distribution of the bird 
makes this most improbable. Others, with much better 
reason, have taken Mavis to be a corruption of Malbyse, 
a Richard de Malbyse having been lord of the manor in 
the twelfth century ; and this view is favoured by the 
fact that Malbis Enderby appears in an official document 
of Edward the Third's reign.'^ On the other hand, from 
the descriptive character of the "prefix in Bag and Wood 
Enderby, we should expect to find also in Mavis a term 
of physical or geographical import.^ And a glance at 
the map of Iceland, or other Scandinavian settlements, 
will show that this prefix, in a geographical sense, may 
have been attached to the place long before Richard 
Malbyse owned it, and may be traced, without improba- 
bility, to the Danish colonists. In Old Norse we have a 
word i}ij6i^ or injdr (narrow) which takes, when inflected, 
a characteristic v. It is often found in place-names. 
Thus, in Iceland we have Mjavi-dalr, Mjova-nes ; in 
Denmark, Moibjerg ; whilst in Shetland there is an 
isthmus called Mavis Grind. Mavis Enderby, then, may 
be the old Danish equivalent of Narrow Enderby. It is 
true that the configuration of the parish at the present 
day does not support this view, but it is by no means 
necessaiy to suppose that parochial boundaries originated 
such an epithet.^ If we may guess at the physical 

^ Inquis. Nonarum. 

- There was, in 1666, a Mavis Croft or Malpas Lane Croft, near Gains- 
borough. (See Stark's Gainsborough, p. 211.) 

^ Not that parochial boundaries were unknown at the date of the 
Danish conquests ; but the Danes, at least on their first arrival, would take 
little notice of them. On the origin of parishes, see Stubbs, Constitutional 
History, vol. i. p. 227 ; also Green's Making of England, p. 380. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 29 

feature denoted by this epithet, we may point to a 
picturesque and narrow gorge, at the head of which the 
parish church now stands. 

Auster Wood still marks the eastern limit to which 
the great forest of Bruneswald extended, when the 
Danes pushed their way to the edge of the Fens, and 
settled in large numbers to the north and south of 
Bourne.-^ Comparatively little of the primeval forest 
remains, but this Auster Wood, two miles south-west from 
Bourne, still recalls the time, when almost unbroken 
woodland, stretched westward hence for miles and miles 
into the very heart of England.^ The Old Norse austr 
(east) also survives in Austacre W^ood, in the neiglibour- 
hood of Gautby.^ 

The name of Southrey,^ although so closely connected 
with the Saxon monasteryof Bardney,is probably of Norse 
origin.^ Southrey (pronounced Suthrey) has its exact 
counterpart in Surrey, off the coast of Iceland, whilst the 
plural form, Su^reyjar, remains to us, though somewhat 
disguised, in the ecclesiastical title of Sodor and Man.^ 

' If the town and name of Bourne are pre-Danish, as is probably tlic 
case, the name was (at least for a time) cast in a Danish mould. In early 
records it is always found as Brune ; Icelandic brunnr, Swedish briiitii, 
a spring or well ; Anglo-Saxon burna, biirnc. 

- See J. R. Green, Making of England, chap. i. and ii. For a most 
picturesque description of this forest-land in Anglo-Danish times, see 
Kingsley's Hereward, chap. xiv. 

' To these we may perhaps add Asterby (pronounced Aisterby) ; D. B., 
Estrebi. 

* D. B., Sutreie. Southrey is locally known also as Southroe ; this 
suffix is distinctly Danish ; cf. Faroe. 

^ The Saxon equivalent would be Southey. 

® This title of Sodor and Man is of peculiar interest, as preserving the 
memory of Norwegian rule over what now is an integral part of Great 

K 



130 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

To the foregoing may be added such names as 
Westb}^, Westhorpe in Gonerby, Westhorpe near Lincohi, 
Eastoft, Easthorpe, three distinct Northorpes, Southorpe, 
and Sutterby.^ Swinderby also, though at first sight 
another derivation would suggest itself, undoubtedly 
belongs to this class. In Domesday Book it is found 
once as Suinderebi, once also as Sundereby. The latter 
at once connects it with the modern Danish sonder, 
south, found in many place-names, as Sonder Jylland 
(South Jutland), Sonderlade.^ 

The name of Sixhills does not, at first sight, promise 
much evidence of Danish occupation, yet it is more than 
possible (though the suggestion is a mere conjecture) that 
these two Saxon monosyllables are but the distortion of 
one Norse word. The present name does not pretend 
to describe the natural features of the place ; if therefore 

Britain. The Su<Sreyjar included the Hebrides and the islands lying off the 
coast of Argyllshire. Together with the Isle of Man (Mon of the Sagas), 
they formed part of the Norwegian kingdom from about 870 to 1266, when 
the SuSreyjar were ceded to Alexander III. of Scotland. The bishoprics of 
SuSreyjar and Mon were originally distinct, but were united by Magnus 
Barfod towards the end of the eleventh century. They were at that date 
subjected to the Archbishop of Trondhjem, \\\\o appointed the bishop of 
Sodor and I\Ian until 1334, so that the ecclesiastical survived the political 
connection for more than half a century. (See Worsaae's Danes anil 
Northmen, pp. 2S7, 28S, etc.) 

^ Other names of this character might be added. With Southorpe and 
Sutterby, cf. SiJderup (L. C. D., Sudthorp) in Denmark, and Soderby in 
Sweden. 

- Old Norse, su'Sr is found more anciently as siintir, and as such enters 
into many local names, e.g. Sunn-dalr, Sunn-mcerr (CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 
605). The derivation given above for Swinderby is certainly the most 
probable, though the fact that the village lies upon the borders of Nottingham 
shire also suggests a possible connection with Old Norse, siindr ; Anglo- 
Saxon, simdar : Danish, sonder, asunder. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I31 

we seek an explanation, we must look elsewhere. To 
this day Iceland is divided into a number of districts 
known by the name of Sysla, which, though usually 
meaning a stewardship held from king or bishop, is also 
used more generally as a geographical term for district 
or bailiwick.-^ In Domesday Book we find Sixhills 
mentioned several times as Siss^^, which, in sound, is 
perhaps midway between Sixhills and Sysla ; but in the 
Catalogus Tenentium, probably compiled within thirty 
years of the Domesday Survey, it is Sixla, which 
comes very near the Icelandic Sysla f whilst other 
connecting links are found in the Danish term, syssel,^ 
and in a country of Eastern Prussia called Sysyle. The 
final s is certainly a very modern addition. In medieval 
records the name appears under the varying forms of 
Sixle, Sixla, Sixel and Sixell, Sixill and Sixhill, whilst 
in maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth century the 
s is still absent.^ There is, it is true, another Sixhills 
in Leicestershire, but this is a late corruption of Sexhill 
which, in its turn, grew out of Seggshill.^ The various 

' Cl. and Vigf. Diet., p. 616. 

- The change from the s to x is perfectly natural, and finds many 
parallels. Sixla is found again in Cal. Rot. Chart., fem/>. Henry III. Owston 
is called by Leiand Oxton ; Harlaxton is a corruption from Herlaveston. 

^ Denmark was, in earlier times, divided into syssch, but this term has 
now been replaced by Aiiit. No term is commoner in L. C. D. than 
Syscd. There is a place in Denmark now called Seesl ; and Osel in the 
Baltic is the corruption of Ey-sysla. 

•• In the Inqu. Non. for Lincolnshire we find mention also of a Robert 
de Cicill ; but I do not know whether this is to be identified with Sixhill. 
If so, we might perhaps here find a clue to the origin of the great name of 
■Cecil. 

^ Seggeswold is a hilly tract of country, which begins at Seggshill (now 
:Sixhills), and runs along the Foss road for about twelve miles. 



132 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

ancient spellings of our Lincolnshire Sixhills give no 
ground for assigning to it any such origin, and, though 
nothing can be said with certainty, it seems possible that 
Sysla, or some ancient dialectic form of that word, gave 
a name to this portion of the county. 

Melton Ross preserves in an abbreviated form the 
Old Norse mc&al, Anglo-Saxon, middd. In Domesday 
Book this village is Medelton,^ and its contraction into 
Melton finds a parallel in the Danish Meelby, formerly 
pronounced and written Medelby.^ Medlam, once the 
dairy farm of Revesby Abbey, retains the original in 
better preservation ; but the name is probably more 
recent ^ than that of Melton, and may testify to the com- 
paratively late use of the Old Norse inc6aL 

Dalderby, two miles south of Horncastle, may per- 
petuate, in a slightly modified form, another Danish 
geographical term, dcild, plural dcildar^ a share or 
allotment, which is a common prefix in Scandinavian 
nomenclature.'' Thus the name of Dalderby may be an 
imperishable local record, confirming the notice of the 
Saxon chronicler, who tells of the parcelling out of the 

* Cf. Melton Mowbray ; D. B., Medeltone. 

- Madsen, Sjcel. Stedn., p. 306. 

^ We find it mentioned as Medclham in marisc o, 2 Ed ward III., 
Dugdale, Men. Angl. 

'' Dcild, a deal, a share ; cf. dcila, to deal. (CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 98,) 
It would be a great mistake to suppose that all the "dales" in Lincolnshire 
represent the dalr of the Norsemen. Many genuine daks there are in the 
county, but the greater number are rather to l)e traced to did, a division, 
allotment, the corruption of deal into dak being perhaps facilitated through 
the introduction of the latter term by the Danes. For illustration of the 
did, see Green's Making of England, p. 190, note 2. 

'" Deilda-tunga, Deilda-hjalli. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 



Ljj 



lands among the conquering Danes.^ On the other 
hand, in Iceland, deild or deildar frequently has the 
meaning of boundary, and, as in that country Deildar- 
laekr or Deildar-a means boundary stream,^ so, in 
Lincolnshire, Deildarby might be the boundary farm, an 
interpretation supported, to some extent, by the situa- 
tion of Dalderby upon the very edge of the Fens."'^ 

The names of Skeldyke and Skelmirc, in two dif- 
ferent parts of the county, find many parallels in 
Denmark. Skjd is the modern Danish form of Old 
Norse Skil,^ meaning a partition, and would naturally 
•enter somewhat largely into the formation of local names. 
By the aid of such Danish names as Skjelby, Skjelhoi, 
Skjelbaek,^ we can easily see that Skeldyke means a 
boundary ditch, and Skelmire *^ the boundary moor. 

' Stragglethorpe admits of no very certain derivation. 
In Domesday Book it appears as Tudetorp, which may 
have been a contiguous place, since merged in Straggle- 
thorp ; but from other early records, it seems clear that 
the present name is a corruption of the somewhat more 
elegant Stragerthorp.'' It is possible that the prefix in 

" See B. Thorpe's translation, Saxon Chronicles for a.d. 876 and S77, 
-vol. ii. p. 64. 

- So, too, Deildar-hvammr, boundary slope. 

^ Cf. the name of Enderby. Wood Enderby is close to Dalderby, and 
in a similar situation in regard to the Fens. 

* Skil = a distinction. There is a surname in Lincolnshire, Shillaker, 
which no doubt was once Skillaker. The verb fo skill is still used in North 
England, meaning to distinguish, to know (see Clevel. Gl., p. 457). 

* See Madsen, SjkI. .Stedn., p. 240. 

" Mire = Old Norse myrr (cf. Kirmond-in-the-Mire). 
' Hundred J-lolls, PI. A., Test. Nev., Stragerthorp ; C. L, Stragar- 
ihorp. 



134 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

this name is connected with the Danish str'og, a tract of 
land ; e.g. sfrig af land ; strbg af bjcrg, a ridge of 
hill. 

A singular instance of distortion is afforded by 
Stenigot. There can be no reasonable doubt that the 
original form of the name was Stanghow, and its present 
corruption can be traced through a series of transitional 
forms.^ This is a name that may well carry our thoughts 
back to the time, when the Danish settlers marked out 
their new possessions by fixing stakes at various points, 
much after the fashion described in the Landnamabok.^ 
We can well fancy that when Scamell, Ulric, and Orm 
were busy, in this same neighbourhood, assigning and 
appropriating estates, which still go by the names of 
Scamblesby, Worlaby, and Ormsby, many a stong^ was 
erected through the whole country side, though the 
memory of all, save one, has perished ; and even this 
one has come down to us in a mask that quite dis- 
guises its original form. 

A part of Bradley Wood, near Grimsby, is known as 
Bradley Geers, in which it is easy to recognize the Old 
Norse geiri, a triangular piece of land, as land-geiri, 

' In Domesday Book it is Stangehou, a name which agrees witli a 
Stanghow in the Cleveland District (see Cleveland Glossary, p. 491), and 
Stanghoi in the parish of Kvong, in the Wester Home Herred, Denmark. 
The name soon became corrupt : R. C, Steinghog ; Inqu. Non., Stanygod ; 
Test. Nev., Stainigot ; in map of 1576, Stanygod ; 1610, Stanygot. 

- Cleveland Glossary, p. 491. 

^ Old Norse, siong, a stake or pole ; still found in the Lincolnshire staiig- 
gad — an eel-spear, and in riding the stang (see M. and C. Gl., p. 237). 
The obsolescent term siang or siong, a rood of land, is also undoubtedly to 
be traced to Old Norse, stong, and perhaps is connected with the very 
practice recorded by the name of Stenigot. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 35 

gras-geiri.^ The word gave is still in constant use upon 
the farms of North Lincolnshire, to indicate a triangular 
patch of soil, which has to be ploughed in a direction 
different from that of the rest.^ 

Tyger Holt, in Lea Parish, near Gainsborough, 
probably affords a still more curious record of Danish 
occupation. The name is one we should expect to find 
amid the jungles of India, but it is much more innocent 
than it sounds. Tcigr, gen. tcigar, is an Old Norse word, 
meaning a narrow strip of land.^ It was very common 
in ancient local names, and may still be found upon a 
good map of Iceland. Thus we have Teigr simply ; 
in compounds, Teigar-a, Hof-teigr and Teigskogr, which 
last is the exact Icelandic equivalent of our Tyger Holt. 

Hornby Wood, near Saleby, records the existence of 
a by or settlement, now long forgotten, which was known 
as the Corner Farm or Horn-by. The word Jiorn in 
Scandinavian local names generally means corner or 
angle ; ^ but in relation to what other farms or natural 

* Bradley Geers lies apart from the main wood, and retains its triangular 
shape. 

- M. and C. Gl., p. 114. 

' Madsen (Sjeel. Stedn., p. 247) gives a different account of the word as 
used in Danish place-names. He takes it as signifying a sloping field ; Init 
I have followed CI. and Vigf. Diet., tcigr. 

^ Latham (History of the English Language, p. 135) says that Iiyrnc is 
" Danish as well as Saxon, and, from being found in the more Danish por- 
tion of England, has passed for an exclusively Danish word, which it is 
not." But the fact seems to be that, while the Saxon hyrnc is used of a 
nook or angle, the Old Norse hyrua (closely connected with horn) is only 
used to express a mountain peak. On the other hand, Old Norse horn is 
used as the equivalent of Anglo-Saxon hyrnc ; e.g. Cape Horn, Horn- 
strandir, HornafjorSr (Iceland) ; Hornebek (Denmark) ; (CI. and Vigf. Diet., 
p. 279). Hirnc — corner, in Scotland (Jamieson). 



136 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

objects our Hornby received its name, it is perhaps 
impossible to say.^ 

Although the Danes never robbed St. Botulph of his 
glory by tampering with the name of Boston,- yet they 
appear to have come dangerously near such an act of 
sacrilege. Tradition goes so far as to say that Boston 
was destroyed by the Danes.^ However this may have 
been, the Norsemen appear to have pushed their v/ay 
right up to its boundaries, taking possession as they 
went. Leaving Butterwick and Fishtoft behind, they 
pressed on until they reached a stream, to which their 
language gave the name of Skirbeck, the dividing 
brook.^ 

It is worthy of note that Boston is not mentioned in 
Domesday Book, and it is therefore possible that for the 
purpose of the Survey it was included in Skirbeck.^ If 
this were the case, Boston may, in those days, have 
occupied a subordinate position, and such an inference 
is in some degree supported by the fact that the parish 
of Skirbeck almost surrounds the town of Boston. 
It further appears that the present name Skirbeck re- 

* Aswardhurn (the name of a Lincolnshire wapentake) appears to be a 
corruption of Aswardthurn (D. B., Aswardtierne). Horncastle may be a 
Danish rendering or pronunciation of Saxon Ilyrnecastle. There is an 
Axle-Tree-liurn ,in jMaltby-lc-J\Iarsh, which I suspect is the distortion of 
Aschil's-tree-hurn. Trees were often named after individuals (cf. Asward- 
thurn) ; and Aschil, the abbreviation of Asketil, appears in Lincolnshire 
Domesday Book ; compare .-EskilsbKC of L. C. D., and the modern Aschil- 
strup and Askildrup in Denmark. 

- Boston, ?'.f. Botulph'stown 

^ See Anderson's Lincoln Guide, p. 38. 

* Old Norse shera, to cut ; cf. the Saxon shiix. 
' Anderson's Lincoln Guide, p. -},%. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 137 

placed the earlier Ulmcrstig, though at what date the 
change took place it is difficult to say. The name of 
Ulmerstig is now found only in ancient documents, but 
it may possibly preserve the memory and name of the 
viking,-^ who came so near to usurping the honours of 
St. Botulph. 

Another Skirbeck,^ although on a small scale, is found 
in quite another part of the county. The stream, if such 
it can be called, that divides Haugham from Maidenwell 
goes by this name, and is a somewhat peculiar feature 
of the district. This Skirbeck is an intermittent stream, 
and appears to be fed by the overflow of some subter- 
ranean reservoir on the principle of the ebbing and 
flowing wells, found in the limestone districts of England. 
Whether this reservoir is formed by a fissure in the chalk 
rock below, or by some other sort of internal cavity, a 
volume of water, sometimes after the lapse of years, is 
suddenly poured forth in sufficient quantity to flood the 
road to a considerable depth, and after running about a 
mile and a half, discharges itself into the Burwell Beck.^ 
Mr. Gough, the eighteenth century editor of Camden, 
was much struck with the phenomenon, and appears to 

' The name is rather Danish than Saxon in form. Ulfmcer, i.e. the 
famous wolf, is the Norse equivalent of Saxon Wulfmer, which survives in 
our English surname Woolmer. Stig is probably Old Norse stigr, Anglo- 
Saxon stig, a path. D. B. has Ulmerstig ; in Hundred Rolls it is Wolmer- 
sty, which perhaps shows the tendency to Saxonize the Old Norse in the 
neighbourhood of Boston and the fen district generally. 

^ With our Lincolnshire Skirbecks we may compare Skierbek, Skiarup, 
Skiering, Skierlund, in Denmark. There is a Skiers in Epworth, also 
Skiers Drain and Skiers Flash. 

' It appears also to have some connection with a remarkable spring at 
Maidenwell, nearly a mile distant. 



138 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

have obtained very precise information upon the subject. 
His notice is in the following words : " Adjoining is 
Haugham, remarkable for a hill called Skirbeck, from 
the side of which sometimes rushes out a torrent of water 
large enough to fill a circle of thirty inches in diameter. 
This stream continues to run with great rapidity for 
several weeks together from places, where, at other times,, 
there is no appearance of a spring. This irruption 
happens after heavy rains." ^ It would perhaps be rash 
to form any conclusion, but the name suggests that this 
phenomenon is of comparatively modern origin, and 
that when it was given, there was a regular and constant 
flow of water, where now the title of beck is a misnomer, 
except for three or four weeks in as many years. 

* Camden's Britannia, translated, edited, and enlarged by Richard 
Gough, vol. ii. p. 273, 1789. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT— PART III. 

" How often liave I paused on every charm — 
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm. 
The never-failing brook, the busy mill. 

The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill." 

TIic Deserted Village. 

From notices of ecclesiastical, political, and territorial 
division we pass to the more commonplace records of 
every day life. 

And we may begin with the name of Denton in the 
south-west corner of the county.^ It is probable that 
the name was given by early Danish colonists, who 
had already settled in England before the great incur- 
sions of the ninth century ; for when East Anglia had 
become a Danish province and the Angles had retired 
before the Norsemen, it is not so likely that such a name 
as Denton would be given to any particular spot.^ 

^ The Danes are as often called Deni as Dani by early writers. Cf. 
Denmark, which is the Anglicized form of Danmork, as also Dengewell, 
Dengey, Denney, Denford. 

- In Testa de Nevill, we have mention of a Danby ; but in that record 
the names are extremely coiTupt, and Danby is apparently a misspelling for 
Dalby. There is also a Denby, but with no particulars to identify. 



140 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Bonby, which appears in Domesday Book, as Bondebi, 
is undoubtedly the equivalent of the Danish Bondeby 
and Icelandic Bondabaer, The boiidi^ was an owner of 
land and stock, and was thus distinguished from gri^- 
■lua^r, the labourer, or bn^sctiana^r, the cottager. Thus, 
then in Bonby, near Brigg (possibly too in Bonthorpe,^ a 
hamlet of Willoughby), we have the memorial of some 
nameless Danish adventurer, who, by right of might, 
became a Lincolnshire landowner a thousand years ago.^ 

The kaii (Anglo-Saxon ccorl) was the agricultural 
labourer of ancient Scandinavia, and although the word 
may sometimes have been used as a personal name, it is 
probable that our Carltons and our Carlby represent 
the social rank of the original settler. It would be 
difficult to say whether the Carltons, of which there are 
several in Lincolnshire,'* belong to the Danish or to an 

' The Danish peasant is at the present day called hondc, and bondeby is 
nn ordinary term for a village. The word bSndi survives to us in the sur- 
name Bond (very common in Lincolnshire), which proves the long retention 
i)f the term hondi or bciidc in the language of the jieople. We also retain it 
in husband, a word of Scandinavian origin (see Skeat, Etymological Dic- 
tionary) ; Icelandic Jn'is-hSiidi (cf. Swedish] Jiusbondc) = house-master, the 
goodman of the house ; cf. our husbandman (see CI. and Vigf Diet.). The 
word husband retained its original Scandinavian force (though not to 
the exclusion of its usual modern sense), up to a late period of English lite- 
rature. Matthew Henry, writing of his father, Philip Henry, says : "He 
was an extraordinary neat husband about his house and ground, which he 
would often say he could not endure to see like the field of the slothful " 
(Diaries and Letters of Philip Henry, p. 211, 1882). 

" But Bonthorpe in ancient documents is almost invariably written 
Brunetorp or Brunthorp. 

^ The surname Bontoft points to some locality once known as Bondetoft. 

* Great and Little Carlton and Castle Carlton (all three adjoining to 
■one another), Carlton-le-Moorland, North and South Carlton, and Carlton 
Scroop. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I41 

earlier occupation ; but Carlby corresponds exactly with 
Karleby in Denmark.^ 

Leasingham, in spite of its apparently Saxon suffix^, 
may represent another grade in Scandinavian society. 
Leysingr was the frcedman (Latin, libcrttis), and though 
the termination ham may, with few exceptions, be 
regarded as English rather than Danish, this may be one 
of the few, and there is something pleasanter in the 
thought of the freedman's hoine, than in that of his by 
or tim? 

It would be rash to give any decided opinion upon 
the names of which Mail forms the prefix, as Manby, 
Manthorpe.^ It is possible that these villages took their 
name from some individual settler called Mani ^ (as in 
Manaberg, Manafell, in Iceland) ; but it is perhaps more 
probable that they represent the Old Norse Mannabaer-' 
or Mannabyg-S, dwelling-houses.*' 



' Madsen, Sja;l. and Stedn,. p. 272, 

- In the reign of Edward the Confessor there was a Lincohrshire tenant 
named Lesinc ; and in Cleveland, at the time of the Survey, there was a 
Leising, or Lesing, who held land (see CI. Gl., Introduction, p. xix.). 
Leysingr, however, does not necessarily mean frecdman ; leysingr — latisa- 
inct^r, an able-bodied labourer who has no home ; hence, a tramp, vaga- 
bond. In this sense leysingr might be freely used as a nickname. 

^ D. B., Mannebi, Mannetorp. 

* Mdiii, the moon ; commonly used as a man's name. 

'■' Old Norse, nto&r, a man, becomes in compounds vianns or manna. 
The name of Manorbeer, in Pembrokeshire, may be the Old Norse Manna- 
bier, with the sound retained, but the .spelling lost. Manorbeer is sur- 
rounded by Norse names. In the Patent Rolls it is Manerbyer. The Norse 
origin of the suffix in Manorbeer is suggested by a correspondent of Notes 
and Queries, September 25, 1858. 

« Madsen (Sjn;l. Stedn., p. (272, derives Mander and Mandemark from 
wand, in the sense of a vassal, as Karlby from karl, a freeman. 



142 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Several places in the county called Boothby most 
likely derive their name from bi'rS (Danish, bod), a 
temporary hut ^ erected by the Norseman on first taking 
possession of the soil, or when sojourning in a place for 
a time.^ It is further not unlikely that East and West 
Butterwick, as well as Butterwick near Boston, are the 
surviving relics of similar temporary shelter afforded by 
buSar.^ On the other hand, there are several personal 
names which may be enshrined in our Butterwicks, nor, 
in that case, would it be easy to decide between the rival 
claims of BoSvarr, Bu^ar and Butvar^a.^ 

Bole on the Trent, and Bulby, near Corby, have pre- 
served the Old Norse bSl, a farm ; ^ and bbl, the Danish 
modification of the word, will help us to account for the 

' On the use of the /w'S, plural bi'c&ai; see CI. and Vigf, Diet. 

- But Boothby (D. B., Bodebi) might be from the personal name Bo^i 
{i.e. a messenger), probably the original of our surname Body. (See Fergu- 
son's English Surnames, p. 344.) 

' Cf. Bu^ardalr in Iceland, so-called from the booths erected there (see 
CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; also Buttkisr, in Denmark, a corruption of Bothe- 
kiarri (L. C. D.). In Scotland booth, bathe, is still used of a shop made of 
boards, either fixed or portable ; and bolhic, or boothie, means a cottage, 
especially where servants lodge (see Jamieson). Butterwick is variously 
spelt in ancient documents : D. B., Butreuuic and Butruic ; Hundred Rolls, 
Botwyke ; T. E., Bott'wyk ; C. I., Boterwyke ; cf. Butterwick, Yorkshire, 
D. B., Butruic. 

■* Bu^ar figures among the early kings of Denmark, and ButvarSr is 
found on ancient Runic stones (Wormius, Monum. Dan. Liber.). Biittr = 
short, ^\■as also a nickname amongst the Norsemen. Any one of these 
names might be the origin of Butterwick, as also of the modern surnames 
Butter and Butters, common in the Highlands, and not uncommon in Lin- 
colnshire. In the Leicestershire Domesday Book we read of a Buter, who 
held lands in Pichewelle. 

^ " Bol and Boll are very frequent in Danish local names and even 
mark the line of Scandinavian settlements" (CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 74). 
Bi')l is the equivalent of English botl and bo/t. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I43 

change of o into ?/ in Bulby.^ Ncwbold, in Stainton by 
Langworth, was formerly sometimes written Newbell, 
which is almost exactly identical with the modern Nebel 
in Denmark, formerly known as Nybol. It is somewhat 
singular that while we appear to have changed the e into 
o, the Danes have done exactly the reverse. Newbell 
has with us become Newbold ; with them Nybol ^ has 
become Nebel. The fact, however, that the Old Norse 
language has three kindred words bol, ba:li, and byli^ 
may account for the apparent confusion in the vowel. 
In Claypole, near Newark, we have a further instance of 
the use of bol^ as a suffix, though the first syllable is 
English and not Danish. 

Holsterdale, near Tetford, has handed down to us the 
suffix ster {i.e. settlement)/ so much more common in 
Norwegian than Danish districts. Holster may originally 
have meant the farm at the hill (O.N., hjoll), or the 
farm in the hollow (hoi), or the farm by the holt. 
In this last case it would bear a close resemblance to 

^ Eulby, D. B., Bolebi, which would be the Danisli equivalent of 
Nonvegian bolsiccSr. BolstaSr is frequently found in Scotland and the Isles, 
under abbreviated forms, as bister (Howbister) ; bster (Lybster, Ulbster) ; 
still more frequently as host, Melbost, Leurbost (see Captain Thomas's 
Hebrides). Boulby, in Yorkshire, is Bolebi in D. B. 

- L. C. D., Nybol. Newbell, however, was but an alternative form ; 
C. T. T. has Neobole. 

' It is possible that our Beltons, Beltofts, and Boltons may represent 
one of these kindred words. Bell Hole is also a very common local name in 
Lincolnshire. Atte Bele occurs at a very early period as a surname. It is 
right to add that the transition from bol to the present bold (Newbold) is 
very natural, since Anglo-Saxon bold = house. 

* Gipples, near Ancaster, may be added to the above, for in PI. A. we 
read of Grangia de Gypol. So we find fol for bol in Storpol, Denmark. 

^ Old Norse seO: 



144 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Holtsetarland (the land of the woodmen), which was 
the ancient name of Holstein.^ Apparently, the only 
other instance of this suffix in Lincolnshire is Ewster, 
near Butterwick, on the Trent,'-^ 

Tumby, if we may trust the D. B. rendering (Tunbi),^ 
still tells us of the fence raised, a thousand years ago, by 
Danish hands on the lowest slope of the wolds, not far 
from Tattershall. Tun, which soon came to mean the 
farm itself, and, eventually, a collection of houses, was in 
its original sense the hedge or fence, by which the home- 
close was surrounded ; and in this sense it must probably 
be taken in the place now under discussion. The name 
is interesting, since it helps us to realize the origin of 
our settlements. Ton, as a suffix, is so common, and so 
completely identified in our minds with busy life and 
populous places, that it is difficult to connect the term 
with its primitive meaning. Tunby describes itself; it 
is the hedge-enclosed or walled farm ; possibly a farm 
distinguished from its neighbours by a larger enclosure 
or better fence. Tun is seldom if ever met with in 
Denmark as a suffix,^ but occasionally as a prefix ; thus 

^ CI. and Vigf. Diet., Jwlt. There is a Ilolsterhuus in Denmark. 

- It may here be noticed that iJiivaitc, i.e. forest-clearing, so common in 
the North of England, apparently occurs but once in Lincolnshire, viz. 
Thwaite Hall in Welton, near Alford. There is here an ancient house 
surrounded by a fosse. The foundations of old buildings may be traced in 
various places, and within the fosse ancient coins are often dug up. Formerly 
an annual cattle fair was held upon the spot. Thwaite usually marks the 
presence of the Norwegian rather than the Dane. For notice of Thwaite 
Hall, see Oldfield's Wainfleet, p. 276. With Thwaite, cf. Tved, Denmark. 

" It need hardly be pointed out that this fact makes it prol^able that, with 
rare exceptions, local names in Lincolnshire ending in ton should be 
assigned to the Anglian settlement. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I45 

wehaveTaanerup (Thundorp, 1424) ; Tunderup (Tonnae- 
thorp, L.C.D.) ; Tunhoi and Tonbjerg, which we may 
compare with Tonbarf in Potter Hanworth.^ 

The fact that Icelandic skcili, a hut, shed, passed into, 
and long retained its place in, the English language,^ 
renders it likely that in the two Scallows,^ one in Mes- 
singham, the other in Binbrook, we meet with this word, 
which, by some authorities, is identified with Scotch shiel 
and shieling^ The names of Scawby and Scotterthorpe 
in their present guise, or disguise, appear to have no 
business here ; but they are both alike late corruptions, 
and may, in their original form of Scalby and Scalthorp, 
be reasonably referred to the same source, though it is 
perhaps more likely that they preserve to us the personal 
name Skalli, i.e. the Bald.^ 

Steeping is a somewhat singular corruption of 
Steveninge, which is the form that appears in Domes- 

^ There is a Tumbye in Denmark, but I cannot give the original form 
of the name. 

- See Stratmann, scalle, Icelandic skdli, cedes (Curs. Mund. ). 

* i.e. Skalhow ; cf. The Scalacres in Andreskirk, Leicestershire, men- 
tioned in 1202 as Scalacre (see Nichol's Leicestershire, vol. iii. p. 123). 

^ See Skeat (Etym. Diet.), sheal, temporary summer hut. Professor 
Skeat, however, would derive sheal from Icelandic skjol., shelter ; Swedish 
skjul ; Danish, skjul ; or from Icelandic skyli, a shed, a shelter. In sup- 
port of sheal from skjSl, he refers to Scotch skiel from Icelandic skjSla, a 
pail. 

^ In the possible derivations for these names we must not overlook Dan. 
D. skalle, which Molbech defines, "bar Plet ; ufrugtbart Jordstykke. " 
This Dan. D. skalle is the Icelandic skalli, bald. Curiously enough, the 
word scalpy is used in much the same sense both in Scotland and Lincoln- 
shire, i.e. to express a thin coating of soil with rock beneath. Connected 
with this use of the word scalp are the Scalps and Scaups off the coast, i.e. 
mud or sand uncovered at low tide. 



146 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

day Book-^ as well as all other early documents, and 
is undoubtedly the original name. It is, moreover, a 
name which gives a good and natural account of itself. 
At the present day in South Jutland stavn (another form 
of stcevn, a. ship's prow) means a farmstead, Stavn, or 
St(£VJi, appears in Anglo-Saxon as stefn, in English as 
stem, and belongs to a large group of words from the 
Aryan root sta, to stand.^ The radical idea thus being 
to place or establish, the early use of the Danish word 
stav7i to express an abode is perfectly natural.^ It is 
possible that we might look in the same direction for an 
explanation of Kesteven, the ancient readings of which 
show much variety in the prefix, but little in the suffix.* 

' In Domesday Book, Great Steeping is Steveninge, whilst Little Steeping 
is Stepi. These may be the correct original names of the two places, and if 
such be the case, the corruption of Stevening into Steeping, is easily accounted 
for. Stepi, Stepiot, were among the tenants in Lincolnshire, temp. Edward 
the Confessor (see Smith's Translation of Domesday Book of Lincolnshire). 
The prima facie explanation of Steeping would be steep meadow, but the 
flatness of the spot makes such an interpretation singularly out of place ; 
whereas Steveninge, the low meadotufarm, agrees exactly with the situation. 
The name Steppinge occurs, however, in Denmark. 

^ See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. 

^ It is only right to say that Mr. Madsen (Sjsel. Stedn., p. 298) 
accounts for the names Stevns Herred, Stavnsholt, Staynehoie in Sjceland 
by the projecting ground offering some resemblance to a ship's prow. The 
situation of Steeping suggests no such origin, 

* e.g. Hundred Rolls, Kecstevene, Keestevene, Kefstevene ; in pre- 
Norman times Ceostefne. The first part of this name is perhaps coed = 
wood. Coedstefne may have been a part of the old Caer-Lind Coed, i.e. 
the Lincoln forest (see Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol, ii, 
p. 433). If we might suppose ste/n to have been an English or Danish 
suffix, it might describe the character of this portion of the great forest as 
jutting out into the Fens. For this possible use of stefn, see note 3 above. 
Stukely derives Kesteven from cavata avon ! (Cavata he regarded as an 
ancient name of the Witham.) The name of Witham is further deduced from 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 47 

The word big in the sense of build is in common use 
in the North of England and in Scotland. It is not so 
used in Lincolnshire at the present day, but that it was 
in earlier times may be inferred from the existence of a 
place called Newbig in Upperthorpe.^ Here we have 
Old Norse byg^ (closely connected with byggja, to build), 
v/hich means a house, together with a portion of reclaimed 
land that surrounds it ; thus Newbig may be taken as 
almost the equivalent of Newton, which is as common 
a local name in Lincolnshire as in other parts of 
England.^ 

The prefix in Saleby appears to be the Old Norse 
salr, a saloon, but used in a wider sense to signify a 
house of the better class, and answering to the English 
word hall.^ The suffix in Tattershall may, with great 
probability, be referred to the same source ; and the 
earlier forms of the name, Tatirsale or Tatarsale, can 
leave little doubt that Teitr,^ the Norseman, built a 

Guithavon, i.e. the separating river. Witham is quite a modern name ; 
the river was called Lindis even in Leland's time. 

' A deed dating 1066 seems to show, not only that hyg^ was in com- 
mon use at that time, but also that it was apt to be confused with by. In 
this deed we find mention of Willabyg, Kitlebig, Cleaxbyg, and Urmesbyg. 
(Thorpe, Dipl. Angl. ^v. Sax.) 

^ Newbiggin is a common local name in the North of England and 
Scotland ; biggin is probably the Old Norse bygging, a habitation. 

^ Cf. Anglo-Saxon sal with the same meaning. In Scotland the word 
sale was used for palace as late as the sixteenth century. Salby (in Sjaland) 
is from Old Norse salr (see Gaml. SjkI. Stedn. Aarboger for Nordisk 
Oldkyndighed, p. 106, 1879). 

* Teitr is the Norse form of Anglo-Saxon tat, and meant glad, cheerful. 
The name occurs in the Landnamabok, and is represented amongst our- 
selves by Tail, Tite, etc. Observe that Tattershall has retained the r of 
the Old Norse form Teitr. 



148 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

goodly mansion on this spot, many centuries before Lord 
Cromwell erected the beautiful specimen of medieval 
brickwork, which still remains to us.^ 

In Aveland and Authorpe we find have the present 
Danish form of the Old Norse Jiagi. Have is still used 
in Denmark in its earliest and original sense of enclosed 
pasture land, but is much more frequently used to denote 
a fruit or flower garden.^ 

Aveland and Authorpe ^ embody the word in its 
original sense, and point back to the far distant times, 
when hedges and walls, fences and dykes were few and 
far between, and when the first thing a tenant had to 
do was to enclose, in one way or another, a plot of 
land for his own individual use. 

The situation of Stixwould makes it almost certain 
that the last syllable of the name has undergone cor- 
ruption. Wold or weald is invariably found in connection 
with a hilly district, and appears strangely out of place 
on the River Witham, half-way between Lincoln and 
Boston. On the other hand Old Norse vollr^ a field, 

^ " The grand brick tower, which has not its equal in England, was 
built by Lord Cromwell, treasurer to Henry the Seventh." (Sir C. Ander- 
son, Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 45.) 

" Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn, p. 207. 

' Aveland in Hundred Rolls, is Havelound ; Authorpe in D. B. is 
Agetorp ; in Test. Nev., Haghetorp ; in Tax. Eccl., Hauthorp. Such 
names as Kohave, Hestehave, Enghave are common in Denmark, but in 
ancient documents the suffix is hagha (approaching the original Old Norse 
hagi), with which we may compare Haghetorp of Test. Nev. If we put 
Hackthorn, Aveland, and Authorpe together, we very nearly get ancient 
Danish hag/io', modern Danish have, and modern English haw. Hathem, 
in Leicestershire, is Avederne in D. B., but Hawtherne in subsequent 
records. 

* Old Norse voHr, a field or paddock, and German ivald, which means 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 49 

would suit the locality perfectly well, and this corruption 

of v'dllr into void finds a parallel in the western isles of 

Scotland.^ If conjecture may go a step further, it may 

be pointed out that the first syllable in Stixwould may 

be connected with Old Norse stik, a pile, and stika, to 

drive piles. The swampy nature of the situation might 

well have required such an operation, 'and the name 

would find many parallels in Danish nomenclature, e.g. 

Stigsnaes (the modern form of Stixnaes), Stigbjerg, etc.^ 

Touthby or Tothby near Alford, may be a corruption 

of To^uby. Ta^af the well-manured home-close, by 

a wood, appear to be the same word, the change in sense from wood to 
field finding a close parallel in m'drk. (CI. and Vigf. Diet., vollr.) It is 
worthy of observation that modern Danish void combines the two meanings 
of rampart and field, and is derived from Old Norse vollr ; (see CI. and 
Vigf. T>\ct., grundz'ollr). Wald, ivauld, however, in Scotland = plain, open 
country without wood, and such might possibly have been the original 
meaning of ivold in Lincolnshire. 

^ Captain Thomas, Hebrides. Also Thingwall, which is the modern 
form of Thingvollr, was in 1307 written Tingvold. But in the isles of 
Scotland vollr is generally now found as -wall. This may be the origin 
of some of our Waltons and Walcotes. 

2 Madsen, SJ£el. Stedn., p. 297. Stixwould in D. B. is Stigeswald ; 
Hundred Rolls, Stikeswold ; R. C, Stikeswald. It is possible that the 
prefix is Old Norse stigr, or Anglo-Saxon stiga, a path, in which case there 
would be no need to account for the present prefix by corruption, as it 
might then mean " the path to the wold." 

3 From Old Norse to?,, pi. tod, dung. Tod still has this meaning in 
Lincolnshire and many other parts of England. " The tathingc of londe''' 
is an Old English phrase for manuring land. In Banftshire they still speak 
of " tothing land " by means of what is called a totk-fold, which is an enclosure 
made for keeping cattle in any spot, that might require their manure. Toth 
is used substantively for manure, and tath also means luxuriant grass, toth 
and tath being merely provincial variations of the same word (Jamieson, 
Scotch Diet.). In Norfolk and Suffolk, the lords of the manor clahned the 
privilege of having their tenants' sheep brought at night upon their own 
demesne lands, there to be folded for the improvement of the soil ; and this 
liberty was called tath. See also ted in Glossary. 



150 LINCOLNSHIRE AND TPIE DANES. 

a process characteristic of the Scandinavian language, 
changes its vowel in inflexion from a to o. Thus ta^a 
becomes in the genitive td^u, which is the form most 
commonly found in compounds, e.g. To^u-gar^r, the 
yard where the home-close hay was stacked. This 
derivation is somewhat favoured by the fact that in 
Domesday Book Tothby is mentioned both as Touedebi 
and as Tatebi.^ It is possible that Tathwell owes its 
prefix to the same source. 

In Epworth there is a spot called Vangarth, a name 
for which two explanations may be suggested, the one 
as romantic as the other is commonplace. We begin 
with romance. Hvon, gen. hvannar, is a plant known 
to botanists as Angelica archangelica, which grows 
abundantly in Northern Europe and was formerly held 
in much esteem for flavouring ale. For this purpose the 
plant was cultivated, and an angelica garden was called 
hvamigar^r? This particular species of angelica, though 
formerly found in some few places in England (notably 
on the south bank of the Thames below Woolwich ^), has 

' Test. Nev., Touthby. 

2 CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

^ Perhaps introduced by the Danes at the same time that they are sup- 
posed to have fixed upon the Thames bank tlie name of Woolwich itself, 
together with Greenwich, Sheerness, and many others, which will long sur- 
vive the angelica, now almost, if not quite, extinct. It is rather remark- 
able that within the last few years, just as Angelica archangelica is 
becoming extinct, another plant of Northern Europe (also, like angelica, 
of the umbelliferous order), has been found in Lincolnshire, at Broughton, 
not far from the river Ancholme. This plant, Selina carvifolia, is closely 
allied to the genus angelica, and is found over a large area on the Conti- 
nent, ranging from Russia to Denmark and from South Finland to Central 
France, but hitherto unknown in Great Britain. This interesting discovery 
was made by Rev. W. Fowler, who has done so much for the botany of 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 151 

no claim to be considered a native of Britain. We may, 
therefore, perhaps, be allowed to picture these beer- 
loving colonists sending to the mother country for the 
seeds of a much esteemed herb, just as a settler in 
Australia might nowadays send home for the seed of 
borage or fennel. CcBhtm non anhmnu mutant qui trans 
mare cnrrunt ; and if our modern Vangarth represents 
the hvanngar^r of ancient Scandinavia,^ it would be a 
convincing proof that our Danish forefathers had no idea 
of allowing their beer to lose in flavour, because they 
had crossed the Northern sea. 

It may, however, be thought that another, and more 
commonplace, derivation has stronger claims on our 
acceptance. No term is more common than ivang in 
medieval deeds. Many fields are still known as the zuong, 
but zuang appears to have been the more frequent form 
in earlier days. It was freely used as a suffix, and 
names such as Waringwang,^ Quenildewang, Bracnes- 

Lincolrishire. It has been pronounced by competent authority as most 
likely indigenous, but the situation in which it was found suggests at least 
the possibility of its introduction from the Continent ; and if so, who are 
more likely to have brought it than the Danish pirates, who threaded their 
way into this part of England by every navigable stream? (For an inte- 
resting notice of Sclina carvifolia see Report of Botanical Record Club, 
1S80 

' In Iceland we have the names Hvanna, Hvann-eyri, Hvann-dalr, all 
from hvbnn ; in Denmark, Vandlose (Kvanlose, 1199), Vankjter, etc., etc. 
(Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 283.) 

- This is most likely the spot in Horncastle alluded to by Stukeley (Itin., 
vol. i. p. 30). " The Waring arises but a mile or two off. The field across 
it, south of the town, is called theThowng (Thwong(?)), and Cagthorp, and 
probably was its pomoeria from the Saxon word wang, campus, ager." 
Does Stukeley \aez.n poinoerium, a limited space, bounded by stones, outside 
the town, or pomarium, orchard, which would be more naturally connected 
with a zvang? 



152 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

wang-, Keteleswang-, Bachstanewang, Holeboldeswang ^ 
crowd the pages of our early records. The Anglo-Saxon 
wong or ivang appears to have had a general sense, 
without reference to enclosure, and to have been used 
much as we employ the word field. The Old Norse 
vangr or vengi, as v/ell as the Danish vang or vcsnge, 
signifies, on the other hand, an enclosed field, and it is 
quite likely that the word originally had this meaning in 
Lincolnshire.^ An enclosure, whether of grass or plough- 
land, is now called a close, a term certainly in common 
use by the beginning of the sixteenth century,^ and 
which may perhaps have supplanted the earlier wang. 

Although vaug and vcenge are the ordinary forms 
assumed by this word in Denmark, early records show 
that wong was not unknown,^ and it is worthy of notice 
that in Lincolnshire too these three varieties were in use ; 
for whilst tc'^a:;/^ appears to have been the more ancient, and 
zvong the more modern form, Wenghale, now often spelt 
Winghale, shows that the more strictly Danish vcenge 
(Old Norse vengi) was not unfamiliar. In regard to the 
particular name of Vangarth, now under consideration, 
the frequency of Vanggaard, as a local name in Denmark, 

* These are all from Dugdale (Mon. Angl.). 

^ It is right, however, to add that in the early Lincolnshire poem, 
Havelok the Dane, wongcs — fields, plains. (Skeat's Havelok.) 

^ Probably much earlier. In Scotland it was used as early as 1474 
(see Jamieson, who derives from Belgian kliiyse = clausura). In a deed of 
Henry VIII. belonging to Revesby Abbey, we have Shepehouse Cloos, Grete 
Cloos, Ten Acre Cloos. 

■* Madsen gives several names of which vang forms the prefix : Vangede, 
Vangdrup, Vanghuus. Vangede in early deeds appears as Wongwethe as 
well as Wangwethe (Sjcel. Stedn., p. 251) ; cf. also modern Wang, Den- 
mark. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 153 

makes it probable that we should seek the derivation in 
vangr rather than hvonn. 

In the name of Coppledike it is not unnatural to see 
the common Danish word kobbel, an enclosed field, which 
is found in several Danish local names, though generally 
as a suffix, e.g. Elkobbel, Sonder Kobbel, Overste Kobbel, 
Nederste Kobbel.^ A somewhat ancient, but small and 
unpretentious house in Freiston is now known as Copple- 
dike, but the spot was once the home of a well-known 
Lincolnshire family, and the name, in varying forms,^ is 
frequently found in early documents. 

There are two distinct Raithbys in Lincolnshire, one 
near Louth, the other near Spilsby. Although other 
derivations might be suggested, the most probable is 
that given by Mr. Worsaae, who makes Raithby the 
equivalent of the Danish Rodby, from Danish tydde. Old 
Norse ry^j'a, to clear away.^ The derivative ija^r, a 
clearance, is found frequently in the North of England, 
e.g. Ormerod,* but is not met with in Lincolnshire. 



* See Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 328. 

^ Thus in Hundred Rolls, Johann. de Cupeldick and Cubaldit ; Test, 
de Nev., Rob. de Cubbeldick. 

^ Rodby in L. C. D. is Ruthby, which does not bring the name closer 
to our Raithby. It is possible that Ruthby represents Old Norse rii'S, the 
same in meaning with rjoi^r, and also derived from rj/Sya. In D. B. 
Raithby, near Louth, is Radresbi ; Raithby, near Spilsby, Radebi. The 
latter would suggest Anglo-Saxon rdd, a road, represented in Danish by 
red. In Test. Nev. and T. E. the name appears as Reytheby. 

'' This termination is very common in Denmark, e.g. Birkerod, Lille- 
rod, Hillerod, all on the line between Copenhagen and Helsingore (Elsi- 
nore). It is possible that we have a Lincolnshire form of rod in the ancient 
name of Burgh (Brufif)-upon-Bain, which in D. B. is Burgrede, and in later 
medieval records generally Burreth. (See also note i, p. I54-) 



154 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Whilst it is with some diffidence that we explain Raithby 
as " the farm in the forest clearing," we may with great 
probability derive the various Recdings from Old Norse 
ry'^ja, to clear the land of wood.^ The Lincolnshire 
form of the word is reproduced in the very similar 
Rhydding or Ridding of Yorkshire, and our Haugham 
Reedings, Reedings Wood at Gokewell, Reeding Holt 
at Kirkby-upon-Bain, and Ridings Wood at Apley, may 
be matched in the Ben Rhydding and Riddingsgill of 
the sister county. 

In very close connection with these Reedings we shall 
probably be correct in placing Swithen's Thick.^ In 
Swithen it is not difficult to recognize svr^inn, p. part, 
pass, of Old Norse svi^a, to burn. In Norway svi^a, or 
svrSning, is a name given to spaces in a wood cleared by 
fire for the purpose of building,^ and in Cleveland this 
Norwegian phrase is almost exactly preserved in 
swidden^ a place on the moor from which the ling has 

* The Rythingshcereth of L. C. D. (modern Roddingherred) comes very- 
near our Reeding ; cf. also modern Ryde, Rydegade, Rydhauge, in Den- 
mark. Ferguson (Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland) also takes 
ridding to be more strictly Norse than English. Cf. also redd, rede, rid, to 
clear (Jamieson) ; 

" There he begowth to red a grownd 
Quhare that he thowcht a kyrk to found." 

Wyntown, circ. 1420. 

"^ Situated in Beltoft ; cf. Swithland, Leicestershire, near Mountsorrel, 
not in D. B., but early known by its present name. (Nichol's Leicester-- 
shire, vol. iii. p. 1047.) 

^ CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 610. 

■• Cleveland Glossary, p. 514. The same word sividden, or swivven, is 
also used as a verb in the sense of bunting superficially. In Lincolnshire, 
Old Norse svi^a is represented by swizzeji, to shrivel, used as a p. part. 
swizzened. A nearer approach to the original is made by szvithen, to burn, 
in the Craven dialect. In modern Danish we have si'ide, p. part, svcden. 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. 1 55 

been cleared by fire. Svvithen's Thick may with good 
reason be taken as the record of a similar process in our 
county ; or, is it possible that the name is a terse and 
graphic record of the fires, with which the Danes 
destroyed the forests, as well as the monasteries of 
Lincolnshire ? 

The first syllable of Stubton ^ may well be the 
Anglo-Saxon styb^ a stock or stump, but the fact that 
many places in Denmark^ have a similar prefix may 
give the name some claim to be mentioned here. The 
name has an interest, not merely as the record of an 
ancient forest clearing, but also as preserving to the 
present time a sort of picture of the spot, when the 
tree stumps still conspicuously protruded from the 
soil and formed a characteristic feature of the 
place. 

By no very violent transition, we may pass from 
these forest clearings to the cattle that subsequently 
fattened in them ; and this appears a suitable place to 
notice the few names that immortalize the live stock of 
the early Northern farmer. 

Cowbitt, pronounced Cubbitt,^ though not in a 
neighbourhood where the Danes settled in large 

' D. B., Stubeton. 

^ Though it answers in its present form exactly to the Old Norse stubbi 
or stubbr. 

* Stubbeskov, Stubberup, i.e. Stubbithorpe. Madsen (Sjasl. Stedn., p. 
280), observes that place-names taken from such objects are very common, 
and gives instances of derivation not only from Old Norse stubbi, but also 
from sto'S (Anglo-Saxon sttiSzi.), a post (Lincolnshire stud), and bolr = bole, 
a word always used in Lincolnshire for the trunk of a tree. 

* Written Cubyt as late as 1410. 



156 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

numbers, appears to be compounded of Old Norse 
kj'r, a cow (gen. pi. kua), and beit, pasturage.^ Thus our 
modern Cowbitt represents the more ancient Kua-beit, 
which is the strict Icelandic equivalent of our Lincoln- 
shire cow -pasture. 

The name of Boswell near Louth, is so nearly 
reproduced by Bosville in Normandy that we may 
fairly regard it as the corruption of Bosvill, and claim 
for it a Danish origin. The first syllable is perhaps 
the Anglicized form of Old Norse bass, Anglo-Saxon 
bos, a cow-stall.'-^ 

The now churchless parish of Tupholme was once 
famous for a well-endowed monastery dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary; but the name appears to indicate that 
before the monastery was built, the pasture there- 
abouts was much valued by the stock-owner. Tup 
is a North country word of Scandinavian origin, mean- 
ing a rain^ and was apparently introduced into the 

' Cf. kua-nijolk, kiia-sjnjor, butter ; kiia-lubbi, mushroom. Madsen 
(Sjffil. Stedn., p. 194) gives Arrebed in the parish of Meelby in illustration 
of tlie use of Old Norse bejt in Danish place-names. He also notices that 
in Jutland the word gnvshedct is still used of beasts that have been fattened 
on pasture land. The modern Danish bcde and English bait are derived 
from Old Norse beit. An English incumbent is still said to have "the bite'''' 
of the churchyard ; CI. and Vigf. Diet., beit ; Icelandic beit is also found 
as bit (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., bit). 

^ In provincial English still called boose. Provincial Danish retains 
baas, cow-stall, found in such names as Baasegaard, Baaselund (Molb. D. 
Lex., p. 25). Boswell may, however, be with equal probability derived 
from the personal name Bosi ; cf. Boserup in Denmark (Madsen, Sjsel. 
Stedn., p. 260). 

* Rani may, however, have come to be the meaning at a period long after 
the name was given, for Stratmann gives vervex, wether, as the equivalent 
of Old English tiippe. (On tup, see Glossary.) 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I 57 

English language from Sweden, where iiipp means a 
cock. On the other hand it is possible that the pre- 
fix in Tupholme may simply indicate geographical 
position ^ and the name may originally have been 
Topholm.^ 

The situation of Fenby does not by any means 
accord with the apparent meaning of the name. Tlie 
locality is not fenny, nor does it seem probable that such 
has been its character in recent times. On the other 
hand, lying, as it does, on the very edge of the wold and 
sloping towards the sea marsh, the land may formerly 
have been, as certainly it now is, eminently suited for 
grazing. The clue to the original form and meaning 
of the name is possibly supplied, partly by the spelling of 
Domesday Book, partly by a parallel case in Denmark. 
In Domesday Book Fenby is Fendebi, and from this, 
even without the help of the Danish parallel, we might 
conjecture that the present Fenby is the ancient Fena^by, 
from Old Norse fena^r, cattle. We find, however, in 
confirmation of this view, that the name Fensmark in 
Sjseland, is the abbreviated modern form of the earlier 
Faenaedsmark.^ Such a derivation for Fenby would not 
only account for the otherwise singular insertion of d, 
(as in the Fendebi of Domesday Book), but would also 

' In Lincolnshire, as probably elsewhere, top is often used Forfar; iop- 
ettdp.vtdfar-eiidnxQ almost convertible terms. On the other hand, fop-land 
is land on the hills, as distinguished from that in the valleys of the Trent 
and Ancholme. (See M. and C. Gl.) 

^ Tupholm is not mentioned in D. B. ; but in Dugdale's Mon. Angl. it 
is Tupholm varied by Thoupholme. 

' Madsen, Sjoel. Stedn., p. 273. Fcencd = fenadr, was used in Denmark 
as late as the middle of the seventeenth century. 



158 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

exactly harmonize with the situation of the place and 
the character of the land.^ 

Sausthorpe (not mentioned in Domesday Book, 
though known to exist at the date of the Survey),^ looks 
like the slightly contracted form of Sau-Ssthorp, i.e. the 
Sheep-village.^ This is nothing more than a conjecture, 
but at least SauSsthorp is as reasonable and natural a 
name as Sau'Slaussdalr ^ in Iceland, and agrees well with 
such compound words as sau^gangr, a sheep-walk, 
smi'^/ms, sheep-pen.^ 

The name of Somergangs, a spot close to Gains- 
borough, carries us back to the time, when many Old 
Norse words and expressions, now obsolete, were in 

' There is mention of forty acres of meado-tv-land in connection with 
Fenby in Domesday Book. 

^ Hundred Rolls, Sawtorp ; I. N., Sausthorp ; T. N. Sauztorp. 

* Old Norse, saicSr ; gen. saie&ar ; less usual, saii'&s. Sausthorp is 
almost as natural a corruption of SauSathorp as SauSsthorpe. If the 5 
were not omitted (cf. Sawtorp of Hundred Rolls), it was almost sure to be 
assimilated with the initial s. 

* i.e. Sheeplessdale. 

* In L. C. D. we find a Sothathorp, which afterwards was corrupted 
to Saaderup, the equivalent of which in English would be, as near as 
possible, Sawderup. There is also Saustrup in Denmark, but I do not 
know the original form. Close to the island of St. Kilda, off the west coast 
of Scotland, is the small island Soay, which is a corruption of SauSey 
(see Captain Thomas, Hebrides). Souter-hole, or Sloughter-hole, is 
described in M. and C. Gl., p. 233, as " a curve in the river Eau in the 
parish of Northorpe, which in former days was a deep pit." It is by no 
means improbable that the spot owes its name to the sheep-washing, for 
which such a pit may have been once used. There was formerly a spot just 
outside Lincoln, known as Sheepwash (Hundred Rolls, Schepwasse, Sepwas; 
early charter connected with Kirksted Abbey, Sepeswas). Souter Hole 
may be compared with Souter Fell and Soutergate in the Lake District, 
which Mr. Ferguson derives from Sau^ar ; cf. SauSfjeld, Norway ; 
Sau^a-fell, Iceland (see Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland, 
p. 81). 



RECORDS OF SETTLEMENT. I 59 

daily use. Ganga, besides its primary meaning to go, 
had the sense oi grazing} and Somergangs is simply old 
Lincolnshire for summer-pasture.^ 

Fotherby has generally been derived from Old 
Norse fo^r, English, fodder. It may be so. Of 
several possible derivations, this is perhaps the most 
probable, and the present Fotherby may once have been 
a dependency belonging to Utterby, or one of the 
adjoining villages,^ 

' There is also a substantive gajiga = pasture. There is an Old Norse 
compound substantive liaga-ganga — grazing. Can this be the original of 
Hardygang Wood, near Barlings? Gang is still used in Scotland for a 
pasture or walk for cattle ; it is no longer used in Lincolnshire in this 
sense, but walk is a very common term for the fields and divisions of the 
large wold farms, and probably took the place of the earlier gang. 

- Close by Somergangs are the Milking Fields (see Stark's History of 
Gainsborough, p. 187). There is a Summergangs Hall in Holderness. 

^ For Swinthorpe, Swinhope, etc., see Chapter xi. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RECORDS OF NATURE — LAND. 

"... Now roves the eye ; 
And posted on this speculative height, 
Exults in its command." 

CowPER, The Task. 

Having considered some of the place-names that speak 
to us of what the Danes did, when they settled on our 
shores, we may now notice a few of those which have 
recorded the various impressions made upon their minds 
by the soil they began to cultivate, and by the physical 
or geographical features with which they became familiar. 
The white chalk of the wolds, so characteristic of 
the county, was nothing new to the Danes. The upper 
cretaceous is one of the principal, as it is the oldest, of 
the formations in Denmark. Any one who has seen the 
white cliffs of Moen, rising five hundred feet from the 
Baltic, and clothed to their very edge with luxuriant 
beech wood, may easily suppose that our rounded chalk 
hills would attract but little notice from the new-comers. 
Yet it seems probable, that we owe to the Danes, the 
name of Limber, properly Limberg, i.e. the Chalk-hill- 



RECORDS OF NATURE. l6l 

fort. In ancient records the name is almost invariably 
Limberg or Lymberg, and as the chalk hills rise here to 
a considerable height, it is but reasonable to derive the 
prefix from Old Norse //;//, chalk,^ rather than from 
any other source.'-^ 

Not far from Caistor, and hidden amongst the hills, 
is the pretty little village of Rothwell.'' Here we meet 
with the band of red chalk, well known to geologists, 
which stretches from Norfolk through the county of 
Lincoln into Yorkshire.'^ Nowhere is this formation 
more conspicuous than it is at Rothwell, and we can 
hardly fail to see in the prefix the Old Norse ran^T,^ 
red, constantly found in the place-names of the North." 

The name of Searby, another village close to Caistor, 
most probably bears witness to poverty of soil, and may 
suggest an argument for reduction of rent in these times 
of depression. The Seurebi of Domesday Book "^ leaves 
little doubt that Searby represents the Sowcrby of 

' Icelandic kalk is borrowed from Anglo-Saxon cca/c. It is worthy of 
notice that the provincial pronunciation in Lincolnshire is kalk, not chalk. 
It is indistinguishable in sound from cork, but Lincolnshire folk are saved 
from this confusion by speaking of a ciirk ; so, too, horse is always kinsc' : 
corpse, curpsc, etc. 

- e.g. Unci, lime-tree ; ////, water. 

2 D. B., Rodewelle. 

* Or Hunstanton limestone. It is very conspicuous in the Hunstanton 
Cliffs. In Lincolnshire it can be traced from Gunby (twenty miles from 
Hunstanton), right across the Wolds to South Ferriby. It reappears in 
Yorkshire. 

^ Anglo-Saxon, rud ; Danish, red. There is, in Old Norse, a kindred 
word rffSi, redness. 

•* Rau^a-myrr, Rau^a-fell, RauSi-meh-. In Denmark we have Rodsteen.- 
shuus, the Rothoesteensoraa of L. CD. 

' Hundred Rolls, Seuereby; I. N., Seuerby. 

M 



1 62 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Yorkshire and Westmoreland, the Sorby of Denmark/ 
and Saurba^r of Iceland. The prefix is Old Norse saurr, 
which means mud,^ and is generally used of bog and 
moorland, but also denotes the barren, hungry nature of 
the soil. 

It sometimes happens that when a word has lost its 
original meaning, it comes to be interpreted in an un- 
favourable sense. Thus has it befallen Kirmond-le-Mire, 
which, by universal consent, is taken to mean Kirmond 
in the Mud. Few places less deserve such a reproach, 
but it is almost difficult to recognize, in its present 
humiliation, the ancient name of Chevremont le Myrr.^ 
The present Mire is the Old Norse ///jrr which (though 
representing in that language our word mire), meant 
rather what we should call moorland.'^ If the name has 

1 Madsen, Sjcel. Stedn., p. 246. 

^ This is our word sour, Danish sitr and syre. It will be seen that the 
ancient spelling of Searby is a compromise between Old Norse saurr and 
modern Danish sur ; while the modern pronunciation (Searby) does not 
differ greatly from Danish syrc. Some of the illustrations given by Madsen 
approach closely to our Searby. Seerdrup {e.g.) is the ancient Syrethorp. 
S^rslev is the ancient Sa;rsloff. For saurr, see CI. and Vigf. Diet, voce. 
In Scotland the word sour is still applied to land in the sense of cold and 
wet (see Jamieson, sour and soiu-land). 

* D. B., Chevremont. Later it is Kevermond. The first part of this 
word is evidently Anglo-Saxon, ccafor ; O. II. C, chevor ; M. H. G., 
kcver ; English, chafer, a beetle (cf. cock-chafer). The root of this word is 
probably found in Anglo-Saxon cdf, lively, brisk, active, and this radical 
meaning may easily explain the use of the word as a personal name. 
In the same way Cochifer (which we may assume to be a corruption of 
Cockchafer), is a common surname at the present time in Lincolnshire, 
as wifil, or wifel {weevil) was in the days of our fathers ; Weelsby (D. B., 
Wivelsby), Wilsthorpe (D. B., Wivelsthorpe), Wilsford (D. B., Wivels- 
ford). 

* Though with reference also to a swampy character. Old Norse myrr 
— moor. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 163 

created in our minds a prejudice against the place, we 
are most agreeably surprised to come upon one of the 
most picturesque villages in the county, and to find that 
the libellous mire represents a charming tract of moist 
pasture land, as yet unbroken by the plough, intersected 
by streams, and closed in by steep hills of red and white 
chalk.^ 

Kirkby Laythorpe has become, in some of our modern 
directories, Kirkby La Thorpe.^ Such a change appears 
due to fancy rather than to fact, for, while in Domesday 
Book there is no mention of this place except as Kir- 
chebi, it is known in subsequent records as Leitorp, 
Leyrthorp, and Leirton.^ It is probable that this name 
(added evidently for distinction's sake) describes either 
the soil or the situation of the village. The prefix seems 
to be Old Norse leir, Danish leer, Scotch lair, which, in 
the sense of clayey soil or muddy situation, is very fre- 
quently found in place-names. Thus we have in Iceland, 
Leir-a and Leir-vik, the latter being found again in 

' A farmliouse called Thorpe-le-Mire occupies a position in this moor 
half-way between Kirmond and Ludford. For a description of this scene 
nnd its immediate neighbourhood see a capital article entitled From the 
Heart of the Wolds, in the Cof-nhtll Magazine for August, 1882, repub- 
lished, 1883, in a volume of Essays, //; fhe Country, Rev. M. G. Watkins. 

- Kelly has Kirkby La Thorpe only ; White gives Kirkby Laythorpe 
as an alternative. 

^ PL A., Leyrthorp; Rot. Ch., Leitorp; Rot. Cane., Leirton. It is 
singular that in Domesday Book the next village, Ewerby, should be men- 
tioned as Leresbi. Observe the near approach in Leyrthorp to the Scotch 
lair. According to Jamieson, the words lair, mire, lairie, marshy, are still 
used in Scotland. The Bishop of Nottingham, however, takes Laythorpe 
to be the corruption of Ledulvethorp. On the other hand, C. G. Smith 
places Ledulvetorp at Culverthorpe. If Laythorpe was once Ledulftorp, 
Laylthorp of Calend. Inqu. (Edward I.) is an intermediate form. 



l64 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Lerwick of Shetland. So Leurbost in the Hebrides 
represents the original Leir-bolsta'Sr, while Leerbjerg is 
a name constantly attached in Denmark to a clay hill.^ 

A very slight acquaintance with the county introduces 
us to its cm's^ or, as it used to be spelt, carrcs? Car is 
generally used to denote low, unenclosed land subject to 
flood, whether bare of wood or overgrown with willows, 
alders, and other water-loving trees. This is not quite 
the force of the Old Norse kjarrf which means copse or 
underwood ; but the use of the word in Denmark is 
remarkably similar to our own. In that country, from 
first meaning the copse itself, it came to indicate a place 
where brushwood grows, and thence a swamp, without 
regard to the presence or absence of tree and underwood. 
You cannot travel far in Lincolnshire without having a 
car pointed out, while such names as Cardyke, Carholme, 
Humble Car abound. A different explanation for Careby 
has elsewhere been suggested ; but Careby and Corby 
might be the modern forms of Kjarrby and Kjorrby.^ 

Orby and Owersby^ may be connected with a Danish 

' See Madsen, Sja-l. Stedn., p. 2S5. Mr. Madsen also mentions. 
Loielte, formerly Leerholt, and it is noticeable that the ;• is here dropped,, 
as we presume to have been the case in Laythorpe. In Old Norse we have 
the following among other compounds : kir-bakki, clay bank ; lch--gata, 
clay path ; leir-grof, clay pit ; kir-vlk, muddy creek ; cf. Lerwick. 

- See a notice of the cars in M. and C. Gl. , p. 47. 

^ Danish kjccr, frequently found in Danish local names, e.g. Kjicrhy.^ 
Cherbourg in Normandy was formerly Kiaeresbourg. (Madsen, Sjtel. 
Stedn., p. 216.) 

* Kjorr is pi. of kjarr. 

■' Orby does not appear in Domesday Book, but is Orreby in Hundred 
]\.olls. Owersby is Oresbi in D. B. ; Ouresbi in C. T. T. ; cf. Orgreave, 
Yorkshire; D. B., Ouregrave. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 65 

word ore} uncultivated land, common, or forest. If such 
be the orisrin of the name, it would indicate that these 
spots were found by the Danish colonists in a wild, un- 
cultivated state, and covered rather with brushwood than 
with forest. A great number of Danish place-names 
might be given to illustrate the use of this word, e.g. 
Ordrup, Orup, Ourup, Orcby, Overberg, all in Sjaeland. 

Burton Goggles received the latter part of its name 
to avoid confusion with the numerous other Burtons 
scattered over the county, each having its own distinctive 
suffix.'-^ There can be little doubt that coggles (a pro- 
vincialism still in use, meaning round, smooth stones) ^ is 
to be identified with Danish kuglc, a ball.^ 

In Halton Holegate we come upon an interesting 

' There appears to be no word in Old Norse exactly corresponding to 
oj-e ; but orri, heath-cock (Swedish orre, Jutl. Dial., oiier-kok), is connected 
with it. Danish ore assumes the form of over in Overdrev, i.e. common 
pasture. The Lincohishire Orby and Owersby afford ahnost a parallel to 
Danish Oreby and Ourup ; cf. also oiterkok, Overdrev. In Danish dialects 
^ve have orager, overagcr, orntun, aarsover, meaning fallow land. Danish 
ore is represented in Anglo-Saxon by -wanr, a weed (see Madsen, Sjal. 
Stedn., p. 233). 

* Burton by Lincoln, Burton Pedwardine, Burton Stather. 

* "We .find the word used in Edward's Survey of the Witham, 1 769. 
"A bed of strong, blue clay full of large coggles." There is a Coggleford 
on the river Slea close to Sleaford. In this case no doubt the river bottom 
was paved with large round stones. The personal name Coggles is not 
uncommon in Lincolnshire. 

* Jamieson's Dictionary connects this word coggle wiikv Icelandic koggull. 
CI. and Vigfusson, however, do not connect koggull with Danish kugle. 
On the other hand, they give Icelandic kiila as representing kuglc. 
Koggull means strictly a joint, then, a small piece of anything, e.g. ttio-kog- 
gull, a small piece of peat. It is just possible that cogglc is a local variation 
of cobble, in which case it would be associated with Icelandic kbppu in kop- 
pustein, a boulder-stone (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Stratmann gives eobil- 
stone from Prompt. P., but attempts no derivation. 



1 66 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

point of contact between the place-names of Lincolnshire 
and those of Normandy. For our one indeed the 
Normans can boast of several Houlgates/ and when we 
learn that a road so-called near Caen, passes through 
excavated rock, we are at once reminded of the scene at 
Halton, and become assured that a thousand years ago, 
as the hillsmen left their home at Spilsby for the fen or 
the sea-marsh, they passed between the same rocks of 
green sandstone ^ that still overhang the road leading 
from Halton to Firsby." 

While some of the names, in which Old Norse steinn, 
a stone, takes part, may be records of monumental or 
other sacred stones, some, on the other hand, may denote 
the stony nature of the soil, while others may com- 
memorate the common personal name of Steinn ; it 

' "Holegate, orHoulgat, at Ilermoustier and Granville and Cormelles,. 
and most particularly at Caen, where the road so-called passed between 
excavated rock." (Palgrave's History of Normandy and England, vol. i. p. 
700.) Cf. Anderson's Lincoln Pocket Gitide, p. 43 — "Halton Holgate,. 
no doubt so-called from a road cut through the sand rock." 

- On these rocks the local and beautiful potciitilla argcntca (hoaiy 
cinquefoil), grows abundantly. 

^ With Holgate we may compare Holbeck. Holbeck House is most 
picturesquely situated amongst extensive, but long disused, quarries of green 
sandstone. Of these quarries we read in Camden (Gough), vol. ii. p. 272 ^ 
" In this parish (Holbek) are rocks of sandstone and a great number of pits, 
which from their size and depth must have been the consequence of vast 
labour and expencc. There is no visible reason for this appearance near* 
the place, and it is difficult to account for it unless the neighbouring churches- 
(which for miles round are built of this stone), were dug out of quarries 
formerly worked here." It is probable that these quarries were extensively 
worked by the Romans. In the remains of the Roman station at Worlaby 
immense quantities of green sandstone occur, which must have been brought 
thither from Salmonby or Holbeck. The j^refix in Holbeck would lead us- 
to suppose that the excavations already existed, at least to some extent, 
when the name was given. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 6/ 

would therefore be exceedingly difficult, not to say 
impossible, exactly to assign Stain/ Stenfield, Stainfield, 
Stainwith,'-^ Stainsby^ and several Stainwells to their 
true origin.'* 

The idea still prevails in many quarters that the 
unfortunate inhabitants of Lincolnshire know not what 
it is to lift up their eyes unto the hills. An amusino- 
illustration of this delusion lately appeared in a small 
volume upon the life and works of the poet laureate.-"' 
Speaking of the poet's love for mountain heights, the 
author, quoting from an article in the Wor/d, proceeds : 
"Whether this yearning for lofty things is innate or 
simply a natural sequence of an carl}^ life sjaent among 
flats and fens, it is certain that no modern singer loves 
hills as Tennyson does. It breathes through every poem 
he has written in later years. When the most familiar 
paths were among the levels of Lincolnshire, his de- 
scriptions of hill scenery were vague and dreamlike," etc. 

' Stain, in Witliern, is most likely the record of some stone associated 
with worship, public meetings, boundary or the like; cf. Steinithing, Chapter 



I 



This is probably the Steynthwayt of C.R.C. It is likely that Stein- 
weit, R. C, Steinwath and Steynwath, Test. Nev., and Steynweye, PI. A. 
are varieties of the same name. 

* Stainsby, however, once appears (viz. in Hundred Rolls) as Stavenesby. 

* Stainby, near Colsterworth, cannot be included in this list, since it is 
evidently an abbreviation of Stigandebi, as it appears in D. B. Other 
varieties of spelling are Stiandebi, Styandby, Steandebi, which illustrate 
the transition from Stigandby to Stainby. White's Lincolnshire (1882) 
states that Stainby was anciently called Steavenby, but gives no authority. 
Stigandi, uf. Strider, was a common name or nickname among the Norse- 
men, and may be compared with Ganger (Rolf the Ganger) ; cf. Sti"-and, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, deposed by the Conqueror. Is it possible that 
the familiar Stiggins is the degenerate descendant of a deposed archbishop ? 

^ Walter E. Wace, Life and Works of Alfred Tennyson, 1881. 



1 68 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

With mountains the poet certainly did not become ac- 
quainted in the years he spent at Somersby, but it would 
be about as correct to speak of the fens and flats and 
levels of Hampshire or Sussex as of that part of Lin- 
colnshire with which Alfred Tennyson's youthful eye 
was most familiar. No one could drive in the neigh- 
bourhood of the poet's birthplace and call the country 
cither flat or ugly. Parts of it are pleasantly wooded, 
whilst the hills rise to the respectable height of three 
hundred feet above the sea, which is not more than 
twelve miles distant. From high ground,^ not five miles 
from his early home, the poet could enjoy a view of the 
Yorkshire coast beyond the Humber to the north, the 
white cliffs of Norfolk to the south, the German Ocean 
to the east, and Lincoln Minster to the west. 

A single glance, however, at the map, without ever 
setting foot within the county, may prove that Lincoln- 
shire is not without its hills, very dear to those who live 
amongst them, even though they present no features of 
striking beauty to the stranger's eye. Many of the local 
names are descriptive of this particular characteristic, 
and we may now examine a few of those which we may 
presume were given by the Danes. 

As the present chapter has hitherto been dealing with 
peculiarities of soil, it may be appropriate to begin with 

* On the Heath Road, near Oxcoinl). This road is part of a Roman 
road that ran from Burgh-in-the-Marsh to Caistor. Part of it is now 
known as the Bhie Stone Heath Road. No one is able to explain the Blue 
Stone. There was a via rcgia called Buskhow Strete in the immediate 
neighbourhood of Tathwell and Asterby in the thirteenth century, and the 
Blue Stone may be the modern distortion of Buskhow. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 69 

the somewhat unsavoury name of Bloater Hill, which 
will be found marked upon the ordnance map near the 
village of Sixhills. How, we are tempted to ask, did 
the bloater get so far inland ? The question is best 
answered by the Icelandic dictionary, where we find the 
word hlautr} wet ; or by Molbech's Lexicon of Danish 
dialects, which gives us hldd or bldde, a swamp.'-^ When 
the poem of Havelok the Dane was written {circa, 1280), 
hloiite (soft) was still in common use in Lincolnshire, 
and to this day the word survives in Scotland."'' Nor 
indeed can the place of which we are speaking disclaim 
all connection with the bloater, which was originally 
identical with the hllU fisk of Sweden {i.e. soaked fish), 
from biota, to steep."^ 

One is further tempted to inquire whether Turky Nab 
Hill '^ records an impression, exactly the reverse of that 
which has been handed down in the name of Bloater 
Hill. The word iiab^ was certainly connected with this 
spot before the Danish tongue had lost its meaning for 

' CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 69 ; blaiitr, soft, but commonly used to expi-ess 
moisture, of land ; so Swedish blot ; cf. also Old Norse hlcyta, mud. 

- Molb. Dial. Lex., p. 43. 

^ Jamieson, blout and bloiiter. 

^ See Skeat's Etym. Diet. He also points out that the English word 
bloat is from the same source. Its radical meaning is to swell, and may be 
traced to Swedish biota, to soak. So, too, the blot in backgammon is 
literally a bare spot, and corresponds with Danish blot, bare ; Swedish blotf, 
v.'hich are connected with blautr, although borrowed from German (see CI. 
and Vigf. Diet.). Bare or naked is the first meaning that Jamieson gives to 
Scotch blout. It may be added that in A. Hansen's Supplement to Mad- 
sen's Sjcel. Stedn., Bloustrod, formerly written Blaucsteruth, is traced to 
the superlative of blautr. 

^ In Messingham, see M. and C. Gl. 

•^ Old Norse nabbi, a knoll ; often found in Lincolnshire. 



I/O LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

the public ear, and if Turky forms a part of the original 
name, then the place was called as it now is generations 
before turkeys took their place among the live stock of 
the Lincolnshire farmer. But it is probable that Turky 
Nab Hill has as little to do with the bird imported from 
America in the sixteenth century, as Bloater Hill has tO' 
do with the herrings brought to Grimsby. There is an 
Old Norse word ]?icrka'^ (represented in Danish b}' 
torke), which means drought, and our Turky Nab Hill 
may be Torke Nabbi, in modern dress, if not borrowed 
plumes.^ To this day, in parts of Scotland, the term 
torkeii is applied to a young foal, in the sense of harden- 
ing and waxing stout, and is certainly to be derived from 
Su. G. torka, or Old Norse Viirka ; and it may be,, 
therefore, that Turky Nab is to be reckoned among the 
many connecting links between the language of Lincoln- 
shire and that of Scotland. 

In travelling northward, just as we pass from the 
fenland that stretches from LIuntingdon to Spilsby, we 
notice two churches placed conspicuously on an acclivity 
above the plain. These are the churches of East and 
West Keal, built upon a ridge of hill that rises like a lofty 
terrace from the level, and commanding a remarkable 
view in the direction of Boston, whose church tower, as 
seen from this spot, stands like a gigantic pillar against 
the horizon. This word kcal, or keel, is to be found in 
many local names, and, where followed by a suffix, may 

' '\)url:a is connected with p//;v-, wliich is Danish iorrc and our dry. 
- It would be perfectly natural for IiUl to be added when the word nah 
became obsolete ; cf. Nabs Hills, \Yaddington, Nob Hill, Donington. 



RECORDS OK NATURE. lyi 

generally be a personal name,^ but where it stands alone, 
and where the situation suits, as in East and West Keal,- 
it is only natural to attach to the word the same sense 
that it bears in Iceland and Norway, viz. a ridge of hill, 
from its likeness to the keel of a ship. Indeed a walk 
from West Keal to Hagnaby can hardly fail to place 
this derivation beyond doubt, since the resemblance to a 
long vessel turned keel upward is strong enough to strike 
every eye, without reference to any metaphorical use of 
the word /.yo/r by the ancient Norseman. Thus, then, we 
take East and West Keal to mean East and West 
hill-ridge.^ 

Even if Brinkhill could be regarded as the original 
name, uncorrupted by time or use, it would have a 
claim upon our notice, since the word brink has been 
adopted into the English from the Danish tongue.^ The 
name in its present form, so far as regards general use,'^ 
is certainly not very old, and in ancient records we find 
it written very variously ; sometimes it is Brincle,'' 



^ Kjolr, a common personal name ; cf. Kelsey, which would be the 
equivalent of south country Chelsea. 

^ Domesday Book, Estre Cale and Westre Calc. Other early spellings 
are Kele and Kiel ; Hundred Rolls, Estirkele. 

' Keelby and Kelby may have the same origin. Possibly, too, With call 
may mean the wooded hill. Withcall in ancient records varies in spelling : 
D. B., Widcale; Hundred Roll-., Wythecall ; Test. Ngy., Wythkale ; 
C. T. T., Vitcala. 

■* Danish brink, edge ; so Swedish I'viiil:, the descent or slope of a hill ; 
Icelandic brckka = brcnka. There is a Brcck Wood in Nottinghamshire. 

^ The first mention of the name, in anything like its present form, that 
I have come across, is lirynkhill of Incju. Non., /cijif. Edward III. But 
long after this time we find Brinkull. 

'' Domesday Book. 



172 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Brinchel or Brinkel ; ^ in other instances it is Brinkhil,^ 
Brinkele,"^ and Brinkely ; ^ in one case it is Brynkhill.^ 
Even as late as 1610 it is marked in a map as Brinkull. 
A visit to the spot reveals a steep hill of elongated form, 
which, from most points of view, bears a curious resem- 
blance to the keel of a ship. It is this resemblance that 
encourages the somewhat bold conjecture, that we have 
in Brinkhill the remains of the two Old Norse words, 
bryn and kjolr^ If such should be the case we have a 
remarkable coincidence. The present name Brinkhill is 
very similar in sound to what is here suggested as the 
original (Brynkjolr), and at the same time expresses the 
same physical features, viz. hill-broiv ; yet brink and ///// 
are etymologically unconnected with bryn and kjolr? 

The village of Frodingham, with its hamlet of Bromby, 
which lies a mile to the south, is situated, according to 
the Lincolnshire Directory, upon a bold declivity over- 
looking the vale of the Trent. Frodingham simply 
means the home of the Frodings, and is probably a record 
of English conquest, but the name of Bromby (D. B., 
Bruncbi) anticipated by a thousand years the description 
of the spot just quoted. Brunebi maybe rendered "the 

' Hundred Rolls. "- Test. Nev. 

^ C. I. " C. I. ■' Inqu. Non. 

•^ Bryn or brun, a brow ; kjdlr, a keel-shaped hill. The word birii is 
still used in this sense in Scotland (see Jamieson's Dictionaiy). It must 
not, however, be forgotten that Cymric b7yn = hill. 

^ The fact that brink, though a Danish word, is very seldom to be found 
in Danish place-names, and then is of modern origin, somewhat confirms 
the view that brink is no part of the original of Brinkhill. (See Madsen, 
Sj^el. Stedn., p. 197.) It is just possible that the prefix in Brinkhill is 
Brj'nki, an abbreviated form of the personal name Bryn-jolfr. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1/3 

village on the brow," ^ from hrun or bryii, an eyebrow, 
very frequently used in a geographical sense, to express 
the brow of a hill or the edge of a moor, heath and 
other physical features. 

Habrough,^ near the Humber shore, is another of the 
many instances in which the name describes the situation. 
Habrough may be rendered Jiill-foi't ; not that the 
ground it occupies reaches any great elevation, but the 
village crowns the first slope of the wold, as it rises from 
the sea marsh bordering the Humber. Habrough re- 
presents Old Norse Ha-borg,'^ the equivalent of Anglo- 
Saxon Heah-byrig, our modern Highbury. In another 
part of what once was Danelagh the same name appears 
in Market Harborough. 

When we find that Huttoft is written Hotot in 
Domesday Book, we are not unprepared to find a 
picturesque village, with a pretty church, crowning an 
elevation that rises to a considerable height above the 
flat sea-marsh that surrounds it. It is further interesting 
to note, how the Norman scribe assimilated in sound, 
if not in spelling, the original Ha-toft to the Norman- 
French Hautot, a village in Normandy.^ 

^ But for the situation, it would be quite as natural to derive the name 
from Old Norse bntniir, a spring ; Danish brond (cf. Brunby in Denmark, 
which is derived from brunnr) ; Anglo-Saxon buriia. Bourne is generally 
Brunn or Brune in early records, though it appears in R. C. as Borne. 

- In Domesday Book it is Haburne, and this is explained by the fact 
that the village is situated at the head of a rivulet. But it is almost invari- 
ably Haburg and Haburgh in ancient records. 

^ Old Norse har, high, generally drops the final r in compounds, e.g. 
ha-bjarg, high rock ; lia-bakki, high baniv. 

^ Cf. Hoetoft, Denmark. 



J74 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

A part of the parish of Goxhill ^ is known as the 
Hallands. This name we may compare with Halland 
in the south of Sweden, Hallendi in the Orkneys, and 
HouUand in Shetland,^ all probably derived from Old 
Norse hallr, a slope. In the same way the name of 
Bratlands in Riby, as of Swinhope Brats, describes the 
leading natural feature of the spot. The former is almost 
the exact counterpart of bratkiindc, a Norwegian word, 
which is still in use, and denotes steeply sloping ground. 
Brattr;' steep, is the Old Norse equivalent of Anglo- 
Saxon broiit or brant,^ streaming, rushing, which is 
familiar to our ears in the River Brant, best known 
perhaps from its connection with the village of Brant 
Brous^hton on its banks. 

Barf is a term in common use in our Lincolnshire 
topography, e.g. Beelsby Barf, Ton Barf, Howsham Barf 
This is a phonetic spelling of bargJi, which represents the 
Old Norse bjarg (the byargJi of L. C. D.), and means, for 
the most part, a low ridge of hill.^ The same word, with 

' Goxhill, like Habrough, occupies the first slopes of the wold ; but it 
is doubtful whether Jiill formed any part of the original name. It is variously 
spelt. In Domesday Book it is Golse ; in C. T. T., Golsa ; in later records, 
Gousel, Gousill, Gousle, Goushull. As far as I know, the x first appears 
in Gouxhill of P. R. of Edward IV. 

- See Captain Thomas, Hebrides. It is very possible that the names of 
llallgarth and Hall Hills may also be connected with liallr. 

^ Danish, brat. 

* Brant is a very common surname in Lincolnshire, but it is possibly the 
•corruption of Brand. 

^ In Danish place-names it is bjergzwd berg. Mr. Madsen (Sjcel. Stedn., 
I). 194) says: ^^ Bjerg, berg. Old Norse, berg, bjarg, bjerg, klippe, isser 
regelmsessig og oventil flad, Angl. beorgh, beorg " : A hill or rock, espe- 
x:ially oiie thai is regular and flat above, a description that well answers to 
•our barf. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1/5 

exactly the same pronunciation, is used in the Cleveland 
district.^ 

Whilst berg and bjarg appear to have had no reference 
to military occupation, borg, on the contrary, was pro- 
bably seldom applied except to rising ground used as 
a camp.^ Borg is not an exclusively Danish word, and 
is represented by Anglo-Saxon burg and byrig. It is 
quite probable that the names of Burgh-in-the-Marsh and 
Burgh-upon-Bain existed long before the Danish invasion, 
for they both mark the site of a Roman camp ; ^ but the 
peculiar pronunciation of the latter, as if it were spelt 
Bruff, forms a connecting link with the Lake District, 
where the word borg also became bniff,^ and with the 
Hebrides, where it is found as borvc? As in these 
districts the local nomenclature was affected by the 
Northmen and not by the Germans, we may perhaps 
reasonably trace the pronunciation at least of our Burgh- 
upon-Bain to the Danes.^ 

' So, too, in the Craven dinlect and in Cumberland. 

- See remarks in CI. and Vigf. Diet., borg. 

^ In the case of Burgh-upon-Bain the camp is actually situated in the 
next parish, Gayton-le-Wold, through which place ran the Roman road from 
Burgh-in-the-Marsh to Caistor (see Oldfield's Wainfleet and Candleshoe, 
p. i6). Brant-Broughton and Broughton near Brigg also mark the site of 
Roman camps. 

* R. Ferguson, Dialect of Cumberland, p. 222, 1873. 

* Captain Thomas, Hebrides. The analogy between the corruption of 
hjarg into barf, and of borg into bruff 7>x\A boi"ve is very obvious. The same 
transition is to be found in Haugham, pron. Haffham, and through, pron. 
tliruff. Captain Thomas points out that this word bo)g in Shetland and the 
Orkneys assumes the form of Brough (see also Jamieson's Diet., 1879, 
Introduction, pp. 31, 314, briigh). 

* It is, perhaps, right to add that Burgh-upon-Bain is mentioned in 
Domesday Book as Burgrede. In later records we find Bureth, Burreth, 



176 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

When the suffix cojube is met with in a district where 
Danish names preponderate, it must be allowed that a 
Danish origin is more probable than any other, if such 
can be suggested. In the Lake District, Old Norse 
kambr, a ridge or crest, is of frequent occurrence and 
may be illustrated by such names as Cam Fell, Catsty 
Cam,^ and the well-known Black Comb mountain. The 
little village of Oxcomb," near Horncastle, lies nestling 
amid some of the highest hills in Lincolnshire, which 
here rise on almost every side in steep ridges, like natural 
fortifications. The village, or rather farmstead, lies just 
within the district round Spilsby and Horncastle so 
exclusively Danish in its nomenclature ; therefore, it 
can hardly be rash to suggest that the suffix is more 
likely to be the Anglicized form of Old Norse kajubr, 
than the Saxonized form of the Celtic cwm. At 
Worlaby, distant about two miles, and in a country 
very similar to Oxcomb, there is a steep recess in 
the hills in the form of an amphitheatre called the 
Suscombs. Here in all probability we have the same 
suffix. 

and Eoreth, which look hke connecting links between Burgrede and Brufi", 
which may, therefore, be rather the abbreviation of Burreth than a Norse 
form of burg. In the earliest times the place appears to have been known 
as Burgrede and Burg. D. B. has both forms, while in C. T. T. it is Burc. 
On the name Burgrede, see above, Chapter viii. 

* R. Ferguson, Dialect of Cumberland. 

- Domesday Book, Oxcum ; so generally in ancient records. But in 
one instance (a.d. 1224) Oxclive appears to be substituted for Oxcum, 
though this may be Oxclifife, in Yorkshire. In .Scandinavian countries 
Oxikambr and Oxiclif would have been almost synonymous. To this it 
may be added that the modern Combs, in the distinctly Danish district of 
Ipswich, was once written Kambcs, 



RECORDS OF NATURE. ' 1 7/ 

The name of Systoii (corrupted from Sidestan^), 
prepares us for the steep hill that looks down upon the 
village of Belton, and is crowned by the seat of the 
Thorold family, — a family that still represents a name 
introduced to England by the Northmen, and can trace 
back its descent almost to the time of the Danish occu- 
pation. What or where the stone may have been, whose 
memory is preserved in this village name, it may be im- 
possible to say, but there stands the hill as it then stood, 
commanding one of the finest views in the county, with 
the beautiful spire of Grantham church in the distance. 

In the same way Rigsby describes itself A walk of 
about a mile, most of the way uphill, takes you from the 
flat country of Alford to a pretty little church, that 
stands on the first step of the wolds, and commands an 
extensive view of the sea-marsh. The English name of 
Alford remained undisturbed by the Danish invasion 
but the Northman who settled on this elevation, a mile 
to the west, naturally called it the farm on the rigg or 
Rigsby.^ Thus again, as we look from the high ground 

' Cf. Leicestershire, Syston, D. B., Sitestone. This name may with 
equal, perhaps greater, probabiHty be attributed to the Enghsh settlers ; 
liut Old Norse sl^a is constantly used in the sense of sloJ>c ; cf. the names 
of SiSa, Hvitar-siSa, Mgi-si^a., in Iceland (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; and 
Lindeside, Aaside, etc., in Denmark (Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 239) ; or 
again, Syston may be from Sida, a personal name. 

- Jvjggis constantly used of a hill in the North of England ; so, too, in 
Lincolnshire a ridge-tile is a rigg-tile ; rigg and slack describe the undula- 
ting surface of a field. In Danish names Old Norse hiyggr, Danish ryg, is 
usually found in the form of rug, e.g. Rugtved, Rugbjcrg, etc. In L. C. D., 
Rugtved is Rughthwetoras. Our Lincolnshire Roughton (pron. Rooton) may 
be from the same word. In Domesday Book it is Rocstune ; Hundred 
Rolls, Ruggeton ; I. N., Rughton. 

N 



178 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES, 

on which Ranby ^ church is built, down upon the valley 
of the Bain, we have no difficulty in inferring that the 
place received its name from the rand"^ or edge of the hill, 
on which some ancient Danish settler built his house and 
made his home. 

So, too, looking to the situation, it seems reasonable 
to connect our two Colebys '^ with Old Norse kollr,^ as 
a geographical term, rather than as a proper name, for 
the one stands upon the western verge of the Cliff range 
of hills, the other upon the high ground overlooking the 
mouth of the Trent.-'' The analogy of Danish place- 

' D. B., Randebi. 

- Danish rand, Anglo-Saxon rand. Old Norse roiidr, pi. randir ; cf. 
the name of Edge Hill. There is a place called Rand in the same neigh- 
bourhood, but the word rand is common to Danish and Anglo-Saxon, and 
in this case there is no suffix to give the clue to nationality ; cf. Rand 
(very common), Randrup, Randlov, Randmark, all in Denmark. 

* There are two places near Market Rasen called, Old and New Collar, 
or, as sometimes and more correctly spelt, Collow, but the situation hardly 
supports the derivation of the name from kollr, hill-top. They may mark 
the burial place of warriors called Kollr, which v>-as a common personal 
name in the North. 

* Old Norse koUr, a top, a summit ; also a surname. (See CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.) 

® Coleby Cliff made a deep impression upon the mind of a certain Miss 
Hatfield, who represented a class of literature that appears to have enjoyed 
some popularity at the beginning of the present century. From her 
description of this hill we extract the following sentences: " Coulby Cliff 
now engages my attention. A light verdant screen divides it from that of 
Burton. This grand cliff is distinguished from the rest of these mountainous 
heights by a bold oval projection, on which account the appellation of 
Table Mountain would be more appropriate to it. . . . Coulby Cliff is 
indeed a grand and magnificent object. I know not whether it is from the 
wantonness of nature or from the infirmities of her age, that its surface 
presents the boldest and most enchanting irregularities, adorned with the 
finest forest scenery, or sinking into smooth declivities, or gradually rising 
to a majestic rotundity, etc. , etc." Of the neighbouring Cliff of Alkborough 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 79 

names lends support to the derivation thus suggested by 
the site, and we may compare our Lincolnshire Colebys 
with Kulby ^ in Sjaelland, and with Koldby in Samso.^ 

It would be interesting to know how many Danehills^ 
might be found in the county, if careful inquiry were 
made. Two at least there are, one at Crowle, the other 
at Threckingham. The name, no doubt, records either 
the encampment or burial of Danes upon the spot. In 
immediate connection with these Danehills, may be 
mentioned another name, which carries us back to those 
perilous times, when every year brought fresh fleets of 
Norsemen to our shore, and Danes and Englishmen 
were struggling in unequal fight for possession of the 
soil. In driving from Louth to Horncastle along an old 
Roman road,^ there is seen to the right a conical hill, 
■which overlooks the village of Scamblesby, and com- 
mands a fine view over part of the valley of the Bain. 
This height still retains the name of Gaumer Hill which 
it probably first received from the Danes, when they 
used it as a post of observation ; for we can hardly be 

the same lady writes: "This stupendous hill has the same elevation as 
the rest, but its everlasting foundations are laid in the waters of the Trent, 
over which its rugged features hang indignantly terrific at those waves 
whose tempests have for ages beaten and torn its lacerated bosom, which, 
yawning in hideous figures {sic), discovers caverns of loose gravel and heaps 
of ponderous stones." Miss Hatfield, it will be seen, had a habit of making 
molehills into mountains ; but the view from these cliffs on a clear day is 
really grand and perhaps unique. (Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 8.) 

* Formerly written Colby (see Madsen, SjkI. Stedn., p. 218). 

' Formerly Koleby (see Madsen, Samsos Stedn. , p. 366). So, too, we 
find Coal in Shetland, Coll in Lewis, and Colsetter in the Orkneys (see 
^Captain Thomas, Hebrides). 

^ Daynil appears as a surname in the Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire. 

* Now called the Blue Stone Heath Road. 



l80 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

wrong in identifying Gaumer with Old Norse gaumr, 
heed, observation, a word that still survives in the gawin 
of our provincial dialect.'^ 

For Warden Hill, a conical height of somewhat 
singular shape not far from Gaumer Hill, but in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Tetford, many derivations 
might be suggested, but perhaps none with greater pro- 
bability than Old Norse var'^a, beacon. In Iceland this 
word enters frequently into the composition of local 
names in the sense of landmarks for the guidance of 
travellers,^ but in Orkney and Shetland wart or ivard is 
a common term for a beacon, consisting of a mound 
erected on some high point of land, with wood ready 
piled for firing in case of emergency."' They are some- 
times called ward-kills, and correspond to some extent 
with \.\\& var^-bcrg^ of Scandinavia. As Warden Plill, 
besides commanding an extensive inland view, looks 
down through two gaps in the hills that rise to the east, 
over the sea-marsh in the direction of Tetney on the 
one hand, and Skegness on the other, it is no great 
stretch of imagination to think that this name too may 
mark an ancient post of observation, whence the un- 

' Gawm, to stare vacantly. In Cleveland this word iwcoxis to fay atten- 
tion ; so, too, in Scotland. Besides O. N. gatani; there are the kindred 
words, gey ma, to watch, and geymari, a keeper. 

- Vat^a (Su. G., zvaard ; German, 7aartc), a beacon; a pile of stones 
or wood to 7ua7'n a wayfarer. In Iceland, vai'&a is the popular name 
of stone cairns erected on high points on mountains and waste places, to 
7varn the wayfarer as to the course of the way (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

* See Jamieson. 

* Var'&bcrg, modern va'&berg, a watch-rock, outlook. There is a phrase,.. 
vera a ■vat^bogi, to be on the look out. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. iSl 

welcome intelligence of invasion might be flashed to the 
neighbourhood. 

Reference is elsewhere made to The Deeps/ but al- 
though Old Norse djupa was used absolutely of water, 
the word did not apply exclusively to that element. It 
is frequently used as an epithet of those valleys or 
depressions in the land, known among Norsemen as 
dales. It would perhaps be hardly worth while to 
mention this, but that, as in the Deeps of our sea-board, 
so in the Deepdales of our inland districts, we have con- 
necting links with Scandinavia on the one hand and 
with Normandy on the other. There are, at least, three 
Deepdales in Lincolnshire, which correspond not only 
with the Icelandic Djiiprdalr, but also with the Norman 
Depedal and Dieppedal. 

Space will not permit us to do more than mention a 
few other names which might be classed with the fore- 
going. Copper Hill, near Ancaster, probably contains 
.a somewhat free translation of Old Norse koppr^ a cup- 
shaped object. Nab^ found in several localities,* may 
be the Old Norse iiabbi, or knappr, most likely the 

' Chapter x. 

" ^^ Koppr,]A\\x^.\ koppar ; English, «(/) ; Danish, /(v/ ; cf. also Western 
English, cop = a round hill." (CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 351.) In the He- 
brides there is a Copcval, which Captain Thomas takes to represent Kiipu- 
fcll = howl-shaped fell, from /cilpa^r, convex. This also might be the 
origin of Copper Hill ; cf. Kopperbye (?), Kopperstede (?), Denmark. 

^ " Nabbi ; English knob; North English and Scotch nab, a small 
protuberance on the skin or green^vard." (CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 445.) 
Mr. Madsen (Sja:l. Stedn., p. 217) derives Kylsknap and Knabstrup from 
Old Norse knappr. 

4 Nabs Hills, Nab Wood, Turky Nab Hill. There is also a Nob 
Hill. 



1 82 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

former. The name of Snape Hill^ perhaps retains the 
primitive use of Old Norse sndpr^ whilst Cloven Hill 
may be compared with KlovenJidi in Denmark ^ and^with 
Klofning in Iceland.'* 

A few more names, before closing this chapter, must 
be added, indicating other physical features belonging 
to the district. We have a good many instances of the 
survival of Old Norse mikill in our nomenclature.^ 
Marked upon the ordnance map we find in various parts 
of the county, Mickle Mecr Hill,^ Mickle How Hill,'^ 
Mickleholme,^ Mickleburg,^ Micklow Hill i" and Mickley 
Wood.^^ Magin Moor or Maggie Moor is a large piece 

' In Saleby. Viewed from the south the hill is strongly conical in form. 

- Apex or pointed end (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 574). Mr. Charnock 
gives several examples from Lancashire of the use of this word siiapc ; Bull- 
snape, Haresnape, Kidsnape, etc., but he takes the suffix to be the corrup- 
tion of the Anglo-Saxon cnap. The ruins of Snape Castle, in Yorkshire, 
stand upon high ground, but Whittaker, in discussing the origin of the name, 
takes the same view as Charnock (Whittaker's History of Richmondshire, 
vol. ii. p. 90). Jamieson, Scotch Diet., gives snab = projecting part of a 
rock, a rough point, etc., and connects it dubiously with Icelandic snoppa, 
a snout. There is a Snape Carr in a list of Lincolnshire Field Names in 
Notes and Queries, Nov. 26, 1881. Snape on Trent is often mentioned in 
early records, but this perhaps is Knaith. For snape ^s a provincialism, see 
Glossary. 

^ Madsen, Samsos Stedn., p. 366. * CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

^ The following names might with almost equal probability perhaps be 
derived from the Anglo-Saxon iiiycel. But Mickle, as a geographical term, 
is principally characteristic of the North, where Danish influence prevailed. 

" Killingholme ; iiieer j^robably viyrr, a moor. 

' Melton Ross. * Dunholme. 

* Mumby. '" Messingham. 

'^ North Witham. Other similar names will be found in the lists of 
Lincolnshire field-names published in Notes and Queries. There is a surname^ 
frequently met with in Lincolnshire, Mucklow, which is probably a modi- 
fied form of Micklow (cf. Anglo-Saxon viiicel, mycel ; Scotch imickic). 
Mucklow has been varied by Muxlow, and this, in its turn, has given rise 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 83 

of grass-land, now enclosed, in the parish of Codringliam.^ 
It is curious that we should have two Old Norse words, 
almost identical in meaning, preserved to us in the two 
names attached to this insignificant spot. Maggie re- 
presents Old Norse viikill, and is identical with Danish 
uiagle, so often met with in the place-names of Denmark.^ 
Magin can hardly fail to be the Old Norse megin, 
Anglo-Saxon mcegen, our modern English main. As 
we speak of the mainland, so the Norseman would 
speak of me^in-land or laiids-inegin. Its use is of the 
most general kind, and is applied to any geographical 
feature, e.g. megin-borg, incgin-fjall, incgin-mdrk? 

There are at least three names in Lincolnshire which 
may be connected with Old Norse drag, slope, valley,^ or 
{as the word is found in the local names of Denmark), a 
strip of land with water on either sjde. The word ex- 
hibits, in Denmark, various stages of corruption. Drax- 
holm, Draaby, Drejo, Driften^ can all be traced to this 
source, and with such examples in what may be termed 
the mother country, it is at least within the bounds of 
possibility that Rasen Drax, Driby, and Dexthorpe 
(originally Drexthorpe ^), are connected with the same 
root. A part of Middle Rasen was called Rasen Drax 

to Musclo. A somewhat similar fate has overtaken the grand old name of 
Seneschal, which, in Lincolnshire, is found in the following forms, Senescal, 
Sensecal, Sensicle. 

» M. and C. Gl. 

- e.g. Magleby, Magleso, etc. ^ (_;}_ ^,-jj yigf^ j^jj,^^ 

< See CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

* See Madsen (Sja;l. Stedn., p. 200, and Samsos Stedn., p. 365) in the 
volume of the Norse Antiquarian Society for 1879, p. 106. 

* To these might possibly be added Dry Doddington. 



1 84 l.INCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

on account of its connection with Drax Abbey in York- 
shire, which, from its situation between the Ouse and the 
Aire, it is easy to connect with the Danish use of the 
word, as illustrated by Draxholm,^ Driby, with which 
we may compare the Danish Draaby ^ and Driften, is a 
hamlet situated on a slope in the midst of hill and dale. 
Dexthorpe (found in early documents as Drexthorpe, 
Droxthorpe, and Dreistorp), a part of Dalby parish,^ is 
situated in the hillicst district of the county and is 
watered by a stream. 

Miningsby, in spite of its present form, which points 
to Old Norse inhming^ used as a personal name, is 
most likely the very slight corruption of Midingsby, 
the village of the Middle-ings. We may bring forward 
in favour of this view at least three fair arguments. In 
the first place there is the early spelling, which more 
frequently suggests the form of Middingsby^ than any 

^ In Dugdale, Alon. Angl., edit. 1S30, vol. vi. p. 194, this foundation 
is described as Drax, Ileum (Holm) or Ileiliiam Priory, and we read, 
" insulam qua: dicitur Halington ct IMiddellrolni ubi fimdata est ecclesia St. 
Nicholai prioratus de Drax." Drax in D. B. is Drac. 

- In Danish local names drag was very soon reduced to draw. The 
present Dragerup, in Bispemes Jordebog, is DraworjD ; Draaby is Drawby 
while the modern Draxholm is both Dravvsholm and Draxholm. 

^ It is worth notice that Old Norse drog, pi. of drag, in the sense of 
■zuatercourse, is commonly found in Iceland associated with dalr, e.g. Dals- 
drog, Dala-drog, Kalfadals-drog ; also fjalla-drog. (CI. and Vigf. Diet.) 

* Rlinning, memory, remembrance, also gift (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 
I have never met with it as a ])ersonal name. There is also a closely 
related word, ininnigr, mindful, which might easily be applied as a soubri- 
quet to an individual, and in one early charter the name appears as Mini- 
gesbia (Carta Fundatoris, Revesby Abbey, a.d. 1142. See Dugdale, 
Mon. Angl.). 

'^ D. B., Melingesbi ; Dugdale, Charter, A.n. 1172, Mithinggesbi ; 
ditto, A.D. 1300, Mithingbi, etc. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. iS^ 

Other, whilst in one instance it is mentioned as Villa de 
Middinges. Secondly, we find a place in South Iceland 
called Mii)-engi,^ which has the exact meaning that we 
claim for the prefix in Miningsby. Lastly, the physical 
features of the place agree well with the name as thus 
interpreted ; for, when the Danes settled hereabouts, the 
fen, which stretched as far as Hagnaby, must have 
merged almost insensibly into the pastures ^ that then 
lay between the steep hill of East Kirkby on the one 
side and the slopes of Miningsby village on the other. 
Indeed it may be said that a glance at the situation is 
highly suggestive of such a name as the MiS-engi or the 
Mid-ings. 

The Sleights, near Mcssingham, and another spot 
similarly named near Alford,^ together with Slights 
Wood, Bassingthorpe, represent Old Norse slettr, level,* 
a word chiefly used in reference to land. With these 
Lincolnshire names we may compare Slet, Slcitterup, 
Slettemose and Sletteholt, in Denmark, and Sleights in 
Yorkshire. 

' Old Norse ini^r ; Anglo-Saxon mid. Jl/i^r is constantly used in 
local names (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; AlrS-d, Mi'S-herg, Mi'S-hop, etc. 
Medlam, in Revesby, close to Miningsby, has preserved the Old Norse 
Illegal = Anglo-Saxon viiddel. 

" Now under cultivation. 

^ The Sleights near Alford is the first level of the sea-marsh that skirts 
the wold. Similarly, Sleights, near Whitby, is a level space amid converg- 
ing valleys. 

* The English word slight is the same word only with a different sense. 
Old Norse slcttr, however, is used in a secondary sense with the same force 
as our word slight. With slcttr cf. Anglo-Saxon sled or shvd, a plain (see 
Edmunds, Names of Places, p. 256). The Sladc is a name frequently found 
attached to a level tract of land. 



1 86 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Wranglands Dale, Kirton-in-Lindsey, preserves for 
us the original form of our common English word wrong, 
which is only a slightly changed form of the Danish 
vrang, Old Norse rangr} The names of Wrangebek 
in Denmark and Ranga in Iceland (so-called from the 
bends and angles of the channel), suggest that the name 
of Wranglands Dale may have arisen from a crooked or 
irregular boundary, furnished by some natural feature of 
the country. 

This chapter has already extended to an undue 
length, but, in conclusion, it may be suggested that the 
particular class of names, now under consideration,, 
might be almost indefinitely increased by a compre- 
hensive collection of field-names. The lists that have 
already appeared in Notes and Queries'^ at various times, 
are a sufficient guarantee for the valuable results that 
might thus be attained in connection with the subject of 
this book.^ Some of the most interesting illustrations 



't> 



* Cl. and Vigf. Diet, gives to 7in-ong a Norse origin. "The English 
wrong seems to be a Danish word, as it does not appear in the Anglo-Saxon, 
although it has the parent word tvringan, EnglisIiTw//?^." Professor Skeat 
(Etym. Diet.), however, does not agree with this. " Anglo-Saxon ivrang,. 
a wrong, sb., orig. an adj., ft. t. oi ivringaii.^' 

^ Tlie greater number of these have been supplied by or through Mr. 
Edward Peacock of Bottesford Manor. 

^ The following names are taken from these lists : Black Mdls, O. N. 
mclr, bent grass (cf. Ingoldmells) ; Crakdhorn Dale, O. N. krdka, a crow; 
Lady Close ; is it possible that the origin of this common prefix is the now 
almost obsolete provincialism lathe, a barn, O. N. kla^a, Dan. lade? (see 
Glossary) ; IFcstcr Sykes, O. N. zvstr and sik, A. S. sick, a trench (Notes 
and Queries, 6th S. vol. iii. p. 104) ; Gawker Thorns, O. '^. gaukr, A. S. 
geac, a cuckoo ; Illller Trees, O. N. clrlr, the alder tree ; Riddings (see 
Chapter viii.); {N. and Q., 6th S. vol. iii. p. 4S6); Varlesgate, O. N.y^?;-/.- 
Cringlebeck (see Chapter x. ) ; Gallcstayns (now Gaustons), perliaps an old 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 1 8/ 

of Norse nomenclature in the present work have been 
gathered from the admirable glossary compiled by Mr. 
Peacock ; and if what has been done for the neighbour- 
hood of Messingham by Mr. Peacock, were done for 
every parish in the county, it is likely, not only that 
many very interesting Danish names might be discovered, 
but also that Old Norse words, long obsolete in 
Lincolnshire, might be rescued from oblivion. 

corruption of Gallowstones, as Gallemark and Gallebakke, in Denmark, arc 
the modern forms of Galgcmark and Galgebakke (see Madsen, S]x\. Stedn., 
p. 204; yV. and Q., 6th S. voL iii. p. 487); Z/// Ing, Dan. IiV/c, little; 
JVa^, O. N. nahbi, hillock; Siiapc Carr (see Chapter ix.); Starhobnc 
Close and Star Carr (see Chapter xi.) ; Mickle Dale and Alicklc Ilill : 
Wath Bridge Close (see Chapter x.) ; Muchmidding Carr, Dan. inog, dung, 
mcdding, dunghill ; see iimckiniddcn (Clevel. Gk, p. 344), also muck and 
midden (M. and C. Gl.) ; {N. and Q., 6th .S. vol. iv. p, 423) ; South W/iajig 
Furlong, O. N. vangr, A. S. ivong ; Blaydiff Syke (for sykc, see above) ; 
Bratt Field (see Chapter ix.) ; Madgin Moor (see Chapter ix.) ; Lady Close 
(see above) ; Scaw Becks, O. N. skogr, Eng. shaw, Scotch, sckaw. The 
following are from ancient sources, the latest, 1653 : Stcthc, circ. 12S0 (cf. 
staithe, Chapter x.) ; Elarpills, 1280, O. N. elrir, alder; Havedland, 1325 
(cf. mod. headland, O. N. hofii^ and hafn'S, A. S. hedfod) ; Haverdale (still 
so called), 1398 (see Chapter xi.) ; Haithhy, 1398, O. N. hei^r, A. S. lia^ ; 
Scamhlands (now Scamblins), 1398, O. N. skaiur, short ; Fishgarth in the 
Trent (cf. Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, and O. N. Jiski-gar^r, a fish-pond). 



CHAPTER X. 

RECORDS OF NATURE — WATER. 

"With thee, my bark, I'll swiftly go 
Athwart the foaming brine ; 
Nor care what land thou bear'st me to, 



So not agam to mine. 



Childe Harold, 



We now pass from names associated with the dry land 
to those connected with the waters of Lincolnshire. 

Although the Danes never became, in regard to 
population, the dominant race in the south-eastern 
portion of the county, they were well acquainted with 
the large inlet known as The Wash. It is, indeed, by no 
means certain that the Wash itself does not owe its 
name to these Norsemen. Mr. Isaac Taylor connects the 
word ivash with Celtic wysg} one of the many varying 
forms of Esk. Possibly an English-speaking population 
translated the original ivysg by their own word %uase, 
mire ;''^ and such a name would not have been altogether 

' Words and Places, p. 136. 

- Stukeley (whose etymologies, however, are very wild), takes ivash to 
be from the Saxon ic^ase, whicli he connects with Ouse ; but Ouse is almost 
certainly a form of Esk. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 189 

incorrect, when the bay extended far inland into the 
counties of Lincoln, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, and 
consisted largely of swamp. On the other hand, it is 
perhaps easier to derive the name from the Danes. 
Anglo-Saxon u>ase is the Old Norse veisa, which 
meant stagnant water,^ and in modern Danish is 
represented by z'as. Another Norse derivation quite as 
probable may be found in Old Norse oss, an estuary, an 
inlet, frequently found in Scandinavian place-names, and 
still represented in Shetland and Orkney by oysc or 

However this may be, the Norsemen have certainly 
left their record in the Lynn and Boston Deeps. Deep 
is the Old Norse djiipr, denoting the deep sea off the 
shore, — sometimes also the bays that indent the coast. 
Lynn and Boston Deeps find their counterpart in the 
Djupa of Iceland and Dieppe on the coast of Normandy, 
whilst the island of Dybso,^ in the Danish seas, represents 
the Dyupsoo of an earlier period.^ 

It has already been noticed in these pages that phy- 

' Veisan is the name of a tarn at Lister, in Norway. 

- Jamieson, Scotch Diet. Dr. Morris (Etymology of Local Names), 
gives Wash as Scandinavian. " Wash (Scand.) an arm of the sea, a river, 
a ford." He does not give the Scandinavian word from which he would 
derive it, but from his definition it would appear to be oss. I may further 
remark that ivas or wassc is found in Hundred Rolls in connection with the 
river Welland, "aqua quK vocatur zoas de Weland." This was near 
Stamford, and is doubtless the " riveret JVasch" of Leland and Camden, 
flowing through Stamford into the Welland. (Camden, p 244.) 

^ Madsen, Sjcel Stedn., p. 200. 

* In the Lake District d/tl> = a pool of water, too small to be called a 
tarn. The word is sometimesapplied to the sea, owerf ditb = over the sea ; 
of. Danish dyb. (Ferguson, Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland, 
p. 107.) 



IQO LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

sical features of the country, which have long ceased to 
exist, are often kept in remembrance by local names. 
We may have an instance of this in a sand-bank, only 
too well known to sailors, called Sand Haile Flat, lying 
off the coast close to Donna Nook. It is notorious that the 
sea made great inroads during the middle ages upon 
this coast, and we may have, in this name, the memorial 
of some narrow stretch of land, of which Donna Nook 
is the somewhat abrupt survival. A treacherous reach 
of sand, uncovered from time to time at very low tides, 
and sadly familiar in the annals of shipwreck, may mark 
the direction of a submerged neck of land, which would 
not unnaturally have received the name of Sand Hale, 
from Danish lips. The Danish word hale (Old Norse 
hall), a tail, is figuratively used of a tongue of land 
stretching into the sea ; and Sand Haile may possibly 
find its parallels in Ulvshale in the Island of Moen and 
Revshale at Copenhagen.^ It is not impossible that 
Great and Little Hale ^ were so called from the fact, that 
they were once tongues of land stretching out into the 
fen that extended many miles eastward from these 
villages. 

In Gatt Sand off Holbeach-marsh we have a con- 
necting link with the Cattegat of Denmark. This suffix 
is a shortened form of Old Norse gata, a thoroughfare, 
a passage from one place to another. We need not, 
however, look to the ocean for this connecting link with 

' jNladsen, Sjcel. Stedn., p. 207; so, too, Erichshale. 
^ D. B., Hale. But Hale may be an early English form of Jiolc, 
meaning hollow ; see Azotes and Queries, October 241)1, 1S68. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 191 

nations of the North, for wc find it abundantly in our 
streets^ and roads.^ In many of the towns, situated 
in what was once Danelagh, gate almost usurps the 
place of the more familiar street, and is still attached 
to some of the country roads.^ 

When we hear farmers and graziers talk of the 
Fitties, it is interesting to know that they are using a 
term which has been handed down amonerst the 
inhabitants of the sea-marsh for a thousand years, a 
term perfectly well understood by Lincolnshire men, 
but strange to other ears. The word signifies the out- 
marsh, or land lying between the sea-bank and the 
sea. It is a genuine specimen of Old Norse, little 
modified either in form or meaning; fit, "pluxal. fitjar,^ 

* So late as the seventeenth century ga/c was often, if not generally, 
printed gat. In a map of Lincoln (1610) wc find Pottergat, Ball Gat, 
Clasket Gat. But side by side with these we find Gateburton, which in 
earlier records is Gatt Burton. 

- e.g. Rottergate, Rowgate, Sturgate ; of. also Gate Burton. The usual 
name for stixd in Denmark is gade ; gade is also a road, and one of the 
commonest local names in the country is Gadeby. It is quite possible that 
our Gaytons are connected with this word. The same word as our gate 
and gat is to be recognized in ihc ghats or g// ants (Sanskrit, gati) of India. 
On the probable distinction in radical meaning and origin between gate, 
road, !ind gate, a way of entrance, etc., see Wedgwood's Contested Ety- 
mologies. 

^ Close to Gatt Sand will be found on the map the name of West 
Mark Knock. Many of the sand-banks off our coast and in the Wash are 
known by the name of knock, e.g. Inner and Outer Knock, Lynn Knock, 
etc. Mr. Munford (Norfolk Local Names) has referred this word to Ice- 
landic knjukr, hnjilkr, a knoll, crag. Perhaps Danish Dial, knok, a mound, 
is still more to the purpose (see Molbech) ; but knock is so common in 
English local names, in the sense of knoll, that it is better to refer it 
generally to Gaelic oioc, a knoll, or Welsh cnwc, a lump, swelling. 

* Old Norse yf^ is represented in modern Danish hy fed, a flat strip of 
land, especially by water ; also an isthmus. It occurs commonly as a suffix 



192 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

is the meadow-land bordering a lake or firth, and is 
often mentioned in ancient writings of the North. 

By the name of Mardike, a large drain that runs 
into the sea at Saltfleet, we arc reminded of the time 
when Norse words were more numerous in Lincolnshire 
than they now arc, and when inar-dik meant sea-drain,^ 
just as mar-bakki meant sea-bank and inar-dlinr, sea- 
grass.^ 

The word ness ^ is one with which we are thoroughly 
familiar. It is used (generally, though not exclusively, 
as a suffix) wherever the Norsemen made their way. All 
down ourj coast, from Northumberland to Kent, we find 
it in such. 'names as Scalby Ness, the Naze, Sheerness, 
Dungeness. As might be expected, the counties which 
claim the greatest number of the nesscs are Yorkshire 
and Lincolnshire. Thus, in the county of Lincoln, we 
have Trent Ness, Durtness, Chowder Ness, Belness, 
Clee Ness, Skitterness, Skegness. Occasionally avc find 
the original ncss distorted into Jioiise or nest ; Gunness 
is often written Gunhouse;'* Sandness has been turned 

to denote a low tongue of land ])y tlie shore, e.g. Vesterfed and Osterfed 
(Madsen, Sjffil. Stedn., p. 202). Thei^e is a place called Fitiunk in L. C. D. 
There is a parish in Norway called Fitje. 

•'■ This explanation of INIardike is perhaps supported by the local name 
of Marfleet in Yorkshire, near Hull. There is mention of a place called 
Marsticros in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet in Hundred Rolls. The first 
part of this name might with some reason be traced to vtarr, sea, and stigi^ 
path. 

- Mar-ditin- is most likely the original of our marram grass, Psamma 



arenaria. 



Old Norse Jics, a promontory. 
* This corruption began early, and it is curious to observe the interme- 
diate forms of Gmiusse (R. C.) and Gunneys (C. R. C). 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 193 

into Sandsnest, just as Skegness has, by popular consent, 
■become Skegsnest.^ 

A curious relic of a condition of things never likely 
to return is found in the name of the Ness Wapentake. 
Nearly thirty miles of fertile plain now lie between Gret- 
ford (a central point in this division of the county) and 
the sea beyond. The name of Ness was given to this 
wapentake, when the fertile plain, now intersected by 
the Great Northern Railway, was a vast mere. Here 
and there might be a slight rise where English colonists 
had built their homes, but the general condition of the 
country was that of fen. This wapentake occupies the 
south-western corner of the county ; it is bounded on 

' The ness in Skegness, as in some other cases, indicates a change in 
the coast-line. There is nothing now that could be called a ncss nearer 
than Gibraltar Point, four or five miles to the south. It is well known, 
however, that, within historical times, the sea has greatly encroached upon 
the land between Grimsby and Wainfleet. Strange, in other ways too, 
have been the vicissitudes of this place. It would doubtless rejoice the 
heart, as well as astonish the mind, of Skeggi, could he rise from his grave 
and see the modern improvements that have embellished the town, of which 
he may be presumed to have been the founder. For Skegness, we must 
bear in mind, had fallen from its high estate. Leland, in his Itinerary, says 
that he went " to Skegnesse, sumtyme a great haven town, a four or five 
miles of Wilegripe. Mr. Paynelle sayid onto me that he could prove that 
there was ons an haven and a towne waullid, having also a castille. The 
old towne is clene consumid and eten up with the se. Part of a chirch of 
it stode a late. For old Skegnes is now build ed a pore new thing." Leland 
would not dare to call the Skegness of our day " a pore new thing." We 
will hope that no future Itinerant, travelling that way, will have again to 
cry " Ichabod " over ruined splendour and decayed importance. Wilegripe 
is mentioned as Wilgripe by Holinshed as one of the seaports of Lincoln- 
shire. It, perhaps, like the old town of Skegness, has been swallowed by 
the sea. Among the many seaports mentioned by Holinshed (some very 
insignificant), Skegness does not appear, so completely had its harbourage 
perished. 

O 



194 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

the south by the river Welland, and abuts upon the 
fenland, into which it stretches as far as Littleworth. A 
thousand years ago, the name of Ness really denoted the 
nature of the situation ; now, such are the changes 
wrought by the industry of man, the designation, which 
still clings to the district, seems strangely inappropriate. 
Another name which decisively attests the change 
that has taken place in the Lincolnshire fens is that of 
Wigtoft. This place is now six miles from the coast- 
line, but the name was given when the sea covered 
the larger portion of the area now occupied by the 
parishes of Bicker,^ Swineshead, Wigtoft and Donington. 
Wigtoft is " the village in the creek," and in the early 
records is invariably spelt Wiketoft.^ This inlet of the 
sea appears to have been called the Swin,^ and has left 
its trace in the name of Swineshead, a place which 
formed perhaps the limit, in one direction, of the navi- 
gable channel.'* 

' Bicker is considerably further from the sea than Wigtoft, yet is known 
formerly to have possessed a haven and twenty salt-pits. (See Anderson, 
Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 37. ) 

^ Old Norse vik, a bay or creek. A viking is one who frequents the inlets 
of the sea. Wigtoft (like Wigford, see below) has followed the Danish, 
which has vig for Old Norse vik. 

* Or Swin Water, Aqua de Swin (Hundred Rolls). This, it is possible, 
might be identified with Svin in the list of British rivers, gathered from 
ancient Norse literature, given on the last page of CI. and Vigf. Diet. We 
can hardly be wrong in regarding this Swin as identical, or at least cog- 
nate, with Dutch zivin, a creek, a bay. Possibly geitl, in the same lan- 
guage, and with much the same meaning as zwin, may account for the 
name of Goole on the river Ouse ; and it is noticeable that the next village 
to Goole is Swinefleet. 

* There was formerly a haven at Svdneshead near the Market Place. 
(See White's Lincolnshire, p. 757.) Besides Aqua de Swin, we find men- 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 195 

Thus, too, the names of Wigford ^ in Lincohi, and 
Canwick close by, point back to the time when thou- 
sands of acres now under cultivation were given up to 
fowlers and gosherds. The tide then flowed up the 
river Witham to Lincoln, and the low-lying suburbs of 
the city were built upon the very edge of genuine fen. 
Wigford was formerly spelt Wikeford.^ Close by is 
Canwick Hill, which, in earlier days, must have risen 
almost sheer from the river swamp, and there is good 
reason to suppose, from the prefix in one case, and the 
suffix in the other, that these names were given when 
the city of Lincoln was in the hands of the Danes.^ 

The ancient haven at Winteringham is known as 
Flashmire, but the creek is now almost silted up, and 
lies at a distance of three quarters of a mile from the 
present haven.* The first syllable of this name looks 

tion in early records of Holleflet, the terminationyft'/ indicating that it was 
a tidal river. This name is still found, though corrupted, in Hoftlet Stow, 
a hamlet in Wigtoft. 

* St. Mary Wigford. 

^ Or Wikerford, as Leland gives it. "I hard say that the lower parte 
of Lincoln Town was al marisch and won be policy, and inhabited for the 
commodite of the water" (vol. i. p. 31). This portion of the town was 
still marshy when Leland visited it. If Wikerford is correct, the r of the 
genitive appears to be retained ; vik, gen. vikr (CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

* Mr. Freeman has seen in the name of Wigford a possible record of 
the struggle by which Lindum Colonia passed into English hands. Wig- 
ford, i.e. the ford of the battle (Anglo-Saxon, %vig). But Mr. Freeman 
notices the original spelling as being against this suggestion. "I hope I 
am right in connecting the name of Wigford with wig, battle, but I tremble 
a little when I find that Roger of Howden (vol. i. p. 216) spells it Wike- 
ford." (E. A. Freeman, Lindum Colonia, Macmillaii^s Magazine, 1875-) 

* So in Stukeley's day : " The old haven mouth at Winteringham, called 
Flashmire, now some distance inland from the constant deposits and 
intakes." Winterton and Winteringham have been thought to owe their 



196 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

very much like the Daimsh. JIaske, which, when used in 
a local sense, sometimes means a small creek surrounded 
by meadows.^ Just such must have been the situation 
of Flashmire in former times.^ 

Hofn, Jiafn is the Scandinavian equivalent of har- 
bour or port,^ and its universal, instead of occasional, 
use on the Lincolnshire coast may be taken to attest 
the ascendancy of the Danes in these parts, A harbour 
is unknown in Lincolnshire ; and Tetney Haven, Saltfleet 
Haven, and Killincrholm Haven, may be compared with 
Milford Haven, Whitehaven, and other names in those 
parts of England where the Northmen settled. 

The name of Heynings, at Knaith, on the river 
Trent, preserves most probably the record of a word 
derived from the Danes, and long obsolete in Lincoln- 
shire, but which certainly survived in Scotland until the 
seventeenth century,^ This is hcavenning, or heaverming 
place, i.e. a harbour, mentioned in ancient Scottish 
deeds ; and so, or nearly so, was the modern Heynings 
spelt in earlier times.^ Very unfamiliar at the present 
day, the name was formerly better known on account of 
a Cistercian nunnery that stood here, and of which the 
present parish church of Knaith formed part. If such 
be the origin of the name, we have in Heynings an 

names to the fact that they were the winter quarters of marauding Danes 
(Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 80). 

' Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 203. 

^ But ci. flash zxiA flush (Jamieson, Scotch Diet. ) ; 2S.%o flash, flosche, and 
flash (Halliwell). 

^ Copenhagen is the Enghsh distortion of Kjobenhavn. 

* See heavenning. (Jamieson, Scotch Diet. ) 

* Hevening. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. I97 

indication of one of the points in the Trent used by our 
forefathers as a mooring-place, or station, — a purpose for 
which its situation admirably adapted it. 

The fertile pastures, however, that slope gently 
towards the river at this spot, suggest another deriva- 
tion, which is, in itself, as probable, and not less surely 
to be traced to the Northmen. The word Jiavninsr is 
still used in Norway for a pasture, and survives to the 
present day, much nearer home, in the Scotch provin- 
cialism haining, an enclosure or enclosed pasture. The 
difference between the two derivations thus sueeested 
for Heynings is more apparent than real, since Old 
Norse hofn, hafn, means pasture ^ as well as harbour, a 
peculiarity maintained in modern Norse by the two 
words havn, a haven, and havne, pasture.^ 

There can be no doubt whatever that the word 
stat/ier was introduced by the Danes to our coast and to 
the Trent side. A glance at a map of Iceland will show 
that this termi sta^r, with its plural sta^ir, is very 
common in the local names of that country. The plural, 
in ancient Scandinavia, was in use before the singular, 
which only came into vogue after the conversion of the 
island, and was then used to denote an ecclesiastical 
establishment.^ Doubtless our Lincolnshire stathcrs at 

' It is not unlikely that the Old Norse hafn, a pasture, is to be found 
in Benniworth Haven, a name now attached to some artificial water in the 
parish of Benniworth, but which probably existed long before the ponds 
were made. 

^ The explanations given above are more natural than hafn-eng, the 
haven-meadows ; but this, too, is quite a possible origin. 

^ Thus the names Hoskuldsta^ir and Alreksta^ir date from pagan 
times, and the sta^ir simply expresses settlement ; but Hraun, when 



198 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Flixborough, Burton, and Theddlethorpe, represent the 
primitive stcr&ir, which originally meant an abode, or 
station.^ Wherever it is found in Lincolnshire, it sig- 
nifies a landing-place, and possibly marks the scenes of 
some of the earliest Danish settlements in Lincolnshire. 

Li closest connection with sta^r is sto^,^ a harbour, 
which is probably the original of staithe, a word still in 
common use in parts of Lincolnshire. It now means ^ a 
portion of the foreshore of a river kept up by faggots, 
but its former meaning was undoubtedly identical with 
that of statJier. At Gainsborough there is a spot called 
Chapel Staith, to which tradition points as the burial 
place of many Danes.^ 

The name of Ferriby ^ carries us back to the days 

enriched with church and church endowments, Ijecame Sta^ar Hraun, 
Meir became Mel-sta^r. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., stair.) 

* The word has been reduced to sta in the western islands of Scotland, 
e.g. Skegirsta, of which the Gaelic form is Sgiogarstagh ; cf. SkeggjastacSr, in 
Iceland ; so Scarista, cf. Skara-staSr, in Iceland. In the Orkneys the word 
has undergone strange fortunes. In 1502 it was represented hy siath, staith, 
staythe. Before 1595 it had been reduced to sta; this again was drawn out 
into stane, which has now generally become ston, ton, or toun. Grymestath, 
1503, now Gremiston (Captain Thomas, Hebrides). 

- It is not impossible that stather itself is, in its origin, the gen. or 
pi. of this word. St'o'S, gen. and pi., std^varr. The plural was in very 
frequent use (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., sto^). StaUr is certainly much 
nearer in sound, but has not, like sto^, the radical meaning of harbour or 
landing-place. The harbour of Skard, in Iceland, is called StoS, and there 
is a place mentioned in Landnamabok, StoSvarfjordr (see CI. and Vigf. 
Diet.). 

' M. and C. Glossary, p. 236. 

* Anderson, Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 73. The word staithe, in the 
sense of landing-place, is in common use in Cleveland (see Cleveland Glos- 
sary). There is a fishing village called Staithes, a few miles north of 
Wliitby. 

* Old Norse, 7t';y'a, Danish, /crr^.?; cf. Fserge-gaard, in Denmark. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. I99 

when Lincolnshire and Yorl-cshire were the constant 
resort of Danish fleets, which divided their attention 
ahnost equally between the two counties. Accordingly, 
we have, on the north bank of the Humber, North 
Ferriby, and on the opposite side, South Fcrriby. 

And now, leaving the coast, we may pass to the 
rivers and springs, which by their names, or names con- 
nected with them, bear record to the Danish invasion. 

It is well known that the river names, over the 
greater part of Europe, are of Celtic origin. England is 
no exception to this rule, and in Lincolnshire we find 
the charateristic names of Don, Esk,^ Glen, and Bain. 
Some, however, of the streams, though apparently none 
of the larger rivers,^ may claim connection, through their 
names, with the Northmen who settled on their banks. 

Wherever we come across a beck, we probably have 
evidence of Danish occupation, and every rivulet in 
Lincolnshire is thus designated. But with this generic 
termination is sometimes joined a descriptive prefix. 
Such is the case in Holbeck and Fulbeck, which have 
their Norman equivalents in Houlbec^ and Foulbec, 
rendered by Mr. Isaac Taylor " the brook in the 
hollow " and " the muddy brook." ^ Of Skirbeck men- 
tion has already been made. Skeggerbeck may be 
the corruption of Skogarbeck, the beck in the woods, or, 
like Skegness, it may derive its name from some in- 

' Louthesk, probably the same as the River Lud. There is a place 
called Eskham or Eastholme in Marsh Chapel. 

2 Unless the holme in Ancholme be regarded as creating an exception. 
^ Cf. also Holbpek, Denmark. 
* Words and Places, p. 124. 



200 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

dividual Skeggi.^ In Stoke Rochford there is a Cringle 
Brook, and in Roxby a Cringle Beck. In such names we 
have the Old Norse kringla^ circle, here used no doubt 
to mark the winding, circuitous character of the channel.^ 
Swallow Beck, near Lincoln, may be the modern cor- 
ruption of Svalr-bekkr,"* cool stream, and would then 
answer to Coldstream on the Tweed, Cawdbeck in the 
Lakes, Caudebec in Normandy, Coldbatch in Shrop- 
shire, and Kaldbakr in Iceland.^ The name of Saltfleet^ 

* In the Hebrides there is a Skegirsta, which Captain Thomas identi- 
fies with Skeggjasta^r in Iceland, and Skeggestad in Norway, and derives 
from Skeggi. The Gaehc form of Skegirsta is Sgiogarstagh. 

^ The same word cringle survives as a nautical term. Cf. also the 
Lincolnshire provincialism, C7'inkle, i.e. to form into loops, as with unwound 
thread (M. and C. Glossary). 

^ There is a place marked in the map of Isle of Man as Cringle, and 
there is a Cringleford in Norfolk ; cf. also, in Denmark, Kringeltoft, 
Kringelum, Kringle Ronnen. 

* This conjecture is corroborated by the fact that the river Swale, in 
Yorkshire, is most likely to be identified with Svol in the Icelandic literature 
of the thirteenth century, svol being the fem. of svalr (see list of British 
rivers on the last page of CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Svala-lind — refreshing 
stream (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). The word svala is found in several names 
in Sjseland (see Madsen, p. 293), but usually in the sense of wet, swampy. 
In this sense the word sval or svale is still used in Jutland, though the 
ordinary meaning in Denmark is cool. Looking to the bleak and hilly 
situation of the village of Swallow, it would not be very rash to suggest the 
same origin for this name, which would correspond with Svallerup (anciently 
Swalethorp) in Denmark (see Madsen). But if, as seems likely, the suffix 
be Old Norse haiigr {hoiv), it is more natural, perhaps, to connect Swallow 
with Svalr as a nickname, since the word is found as such in the Biskupa 
Sogur. Svala, a swallow, was only used as a female personal name (see 
CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

^ I give Kaldbakr on the authority of Mr. Taylor (Words and Places, 
p. 124) ; but the use of the word bekkr is scarcely known in Iceland, the 
word lakr having been employed in that country from the earliest times 
(see CI. and Vigf. Diet.), 

* Saltfleet was a place of very considerable importance in the middle 
ages. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 201 

is SO closely connected with the Danish settlement of 
Saltfleetby, that we may perhaps see in the suffix the 
Old Norse tT/'J/, rather than Anglo-Saxon t^^J/. It is a 
name which might be given to any tidal river, but the 
prefix may have reference to the saltpits for which this 
coast was once famous.-^ 

Before leaving the river names we may notice the 
term rack, frequently found in connection with the 
Trent. In meaning it appears to be identical with 
reach; and, accordingly, associated with Marton, Carlton, 
and Winthorpe Rack, we find Knaith and Hamble 
Reach. To this day, in some parts of Lincolnshire, out- 
reach is pronounced oiitreak, and there can be little 
doubt that rack is from the Old Norse i^ekja^ Swedish 
rdcka, Danish rcckkc, to unwind, which is the exact 
meaning of the word rcacJi when applied to a river.^ 

Beckering, about half a mile from Holton, and 
parochially one with it, looks like a modern form of Old 

' As a fact, the word fleet is not found except in connection with the 
tidal range ; cf. Wainfleet, Fleet. Surfleet is now far inland, but in former 
times was visited by every tide. A. fleet is strictly a creek or bay ; it came 
to be applied to any channel or stream, especially if shallow (see Skeat's 
Etym. Diet., p. 211). 

- Rekja, pret. rak'Si, p. part, rakinn. Also cf. Old Norse 7'ahia, to 
unwind itself. 

' In Scandinavian names rack appears to be used in the very similar 
sense of bend in sea or river ; cf. Skager Rack. In Scotland rack = to 
stretch, to extend (see Jamieson) ; also see reck, to extend (Shetland) ; see 
also Skeat, Etym. Diet., rack, from reach; "the radical sense o^ rack 
is to extend, stretch out, and it is closely allied to 7-each." There is a place 
called Langrick on the river Witham. In an ancient charter connected 
with Kirkstead Abbey we find mention of Dokedich et Maga langraca. It 
seems not improbable, therefore, that Langrick is the corruption of Lang- 
rack or Langreak. In D. B., however, Langrick is Trie. 



202 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Norse bekkjar-eng, the meadow land among the becks.-^ 
The situation answers well to the description thus sug- 
gested by the name, for the present Beckering Hes be- 
tween two streams, which unite at Rand, a mile and a 
half to the south-west. The connection between Holton 
and Beckering, now confirmed by the parochial tie, may 
well date from the Danish conquest, for the one name 
supplements the other. Eng^ meadow,^ is still used in 
Iceland to denote the outlying pasture land, as distinct 
from the homefield known as the tun. Thus Holton 
with Beckering suggests the picture of a Danish farm in 
all its completeness ; Holti'm, the valley farmstead, 
bekkjareng, the outlying water meadows belonging to it.^ 

The village of Leake may have received its present 
name from pre-Danish settlers, for the word leak is used 
in the south of England in the sense of stream ; * the 
fact, however, that Iczkr, and not bckkr, was, from the 
earliest times, and is, at the present day, the common 
word for brook in Iceland,^ leads us to see in Leake a 
probable, though not certain, memorial of Danish occu- 
pation. 

There is a point on the Humber shore called Skitter 

' So we speak of water-meadows. 

^ Or rather the plural, engjar. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet.) 

* Cf. Bekker (?), Denmark. 

* I have constantly heard it so used in the neighbourhood of Southamp- 
ton. 

^ See bekkr. (CI. and Vigf. Diet.) It is not unknown in Denmark; 
there is a place in Sj^land called Lekkende, formerly Lsekkingse (see 
Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 222); cf. East Leake, Notts., and Leake, Yorks. 
Possibly, Liquorpond Street, in Boston, may preserve to us the genitive of 
Ifckr, viz. Icckjar, which is always found in compounds. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 203 

Ness. This Ness received its name from Ulceby Skitter 
and Halton Skitter, two streams, which fall into the 
great river near this point. These names appear to 
indicate that, in former times, the word skyter (still used 
in Aberdeenshire for a squirt, or syringe) was employed 
for stream} Further, from the fact that the very form 
of this same word wath which we are familiar, viz. sJdtter, 
is used generally throughout Scotland to express impure 
liquid, we may perhaps conjecture that these streams 
contributed their full share of deposit to the mud of the 
Humber bank. 

By the side of these Skitters we may set Skidbrook, 
a village that takes its name from the stream that dis- 
charges itself into the sea at Saltfleet. Our forefathers 
called it the Skitebrook, or gliding stream, just as the 
Scotchman of our own day might call the beck that 
runs by his home.^ It is interesting, too, to notice that, 
as the Schitebroc of Domesday Book and the Hundred 
Rolls has become our Skidbrook, so the two forms of 
skite and skid are found in Scotland, one representing 
Icelandic skjSta, or Anglo-Saxon scitanf the other the 
modern Danish skyde} 

* Indeed, the word skitter seems to have been in general use. In a 
forged charter of ^devvulf of Wessex (a.d. 854) we read of " rivuUis qui 
Scitere dicitur," and the same stream appears to be mentioned as Sciteres 
stream, in an authentic deed dated 938. This was in Somersetshire. Again, 
we read of Scyteres flod {i.e. stream) in Hampshire, in a deed of 967 (Kem- 
ble's Codex Dipl. ^Evi. Sax. ). There is a Skitters in Lancashire, and cf. 
Skietterup (?), Denmark. 

^ See skite, skyt, to glide swiftly. (Jamieson.) 
' Scitan, another form of sceotan. 

* Cf. English sciid from Danish skyde. For provincial uses of skite and 
skitter see Halliwell and Jamieson. 



204 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Close to Belleau,^ and ecclesiastically joined to it, 
is the village of Aby, the haunt, in summer time, of 
enthusiastic fishermen, who are probably not aware that 
the ground they tread takes its name from the stream, 
which yields the best sport of all the country round. 
The accented a, which forms the prefix, is the Old 
Norse form of a word that signifies water in many lan- 
guages.^ Aby is the '' village by the water," and is but 
the Anglo-Danish reproduction of Aby in Sweden, 
Aaby in Denmark, and Abaer in Iceland. 

In tracing the course of a river in Lincolnshire, we 
often find the word ford replaced by zvath, Old Norse 
vd^^ Waithe ^ may, or may not be, a corruption of this 
word. In former days, the stream that runs through 
this village towards Tetney was doubtless much larger 
than at present, and the name of Wath would have been 
natural enough. As the river shrank and the ford thus 
became of less importance, the name might lose its 

' Belleau may possibly be a Norman-French adaptation of the older 
name Elgelo, an adaptation easily suggested by the clear and plentiful 
springs that mark the spot. Belleau is a comparatively modern name. 
D. B., Elgelo; T. N., Helgelowe ; C. R. C, Helgelawe ; L N., Hel- 
lowe ; T. E., Hellawe. One is tempted to point to Old Norse heilagr, or 
Anglo-Saxon haiig as the possible origin ; cf. Helland, in Norway, formerly 
Helgaland, and many other Scandinavian local names (O. Rygh, Minder 
om Guderne, p. 21). In Hundred Rolls we read of Alanus de Helgelofe, 
where the suffix suggests Danish loi', hwe, which appears to be the equiva- 
lent of English /i/a7i>, hill (Madsen, Sj?sl. Stedn., p. 228). 

"^ Old Norse a, Latin aqiia, Gothic ahva, Anglo-Saxon ed, French 
emi, etc. 

^ Danish vad. 

* D. B., Wade. The derivation suggested above for Waithe is sup- 
ported by the fact that the present Wath in Yorkshire is Wade in Domes- 
day Book. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 205 

meaning and, consequently, its original pronunciation. 
A very natural change of this kind has taken place in 
the name of Langvvorth. Langvvorth is the modern 
form of Langwath.^ This place was probably of greater 
importance formerly than now, and may have derived 
some consideration from the neighbouring Abbey of 
Barlings. The road from Lincoln to Wragby crosses 
what is now the Langworth river at a spot, which was 
originally known as Langwath. A bridge now spans 
the stream, the ancient fording-place has been forgotten, 
and, curiously enough, the village, which received the 
name of Langwath from its connection with the river, 
has now given that name to the river itself; yet in so 
corrupt a form as completely to disguise its origin and 
history. 

From streams we may turn for a moment to springs. 
Kellwell, a spring in Alkborough, affords an instance of 
a common word losing its meaning and having to be 
explained by the same word in another language,^ for 
the sufhx appears to be simply the English equivalent 
of Old Norse kelda, which survives in the prefix. It is 



* In early records it is almost invariably Langwath. In Hundred Rolls 
it is both Langwath and Langwayt, which may throw light upon the change 
of Wath into Waithe. Few places are more frequently mentioned than Lang- 
wath in medieval documents. There is still a road from Lincoln called 
Langworth Gate, which is the Langwath Strete of Hundred Rolls. There 
is a place called Langwath mentioned in the L. C. D. of Denmark. In 
Lincolnshire we have Shearman's Wath, Wellbeck Wath, Lady Wath, etc. 
With Welbeck cf. Velbek, Denmark. 

^ Unless kell should be Old Norse kjiilr, a keel, used to denote a hill 
(see Chapter ix.), a derivation suggested by the situation of Kellwell on the 
Trent Clitf. 



206 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

possible that Kelby ^ might be explained in the same 
way. It is much more than possible that Calcethorpe 
originally took its name from kelda. Leland notices a 
place called Killesthorpe, or Skellesthorpe, three miles ^ 
west of Louth, " where riseth a great brook called the 
Bane."^ In Domesday Book this place appears as Cales- 
torp, but in Taxatio Ecclesiastica (a.d. 1291) as Kelles- 
thorpe. It is hardly rash to suppose, then, that the name 
was taken from the springs that issue in the river Bain. 
Old Norse kelda, Danish kilde, is found in the pro- 
vincial dialect of Jutland in the various forms of /&?>/<ar, 
kjczl, kiaale, and Hale, and it would therefore be difficult 
to say what particular form of the word was originally 
represented by our modern Calcethorpe.'* 

In Springthorpe we appear to have a Saxon prefix 
with a Danish termination, and this may be the case ; 
not necessarily, however, for, although Old Norse springa, 
to leap, is not applied to water, the modern Danish spring 
is frequently so used, and, in this sense, enters into the 
formation of such local names as Springborg, Hjorte- 
spring.^ 

The Isle of Axholme is mentioned by Mr. Isaac 
Taylor as yielding a remarkable specimen of etymology.^ 
In this name four different races of settlers are repre- 

^ Cf. Kjeldby in Denmark, foiTnerly found as Koelbii, Kelby, and Kas- 
thelby. (Madsen, Sjtel. Stedn., p. 215.) Wheldale, Yorkshire, in Domes- 
day Book is Queldale ; Bakewell, Derbyshire, is Badequelle. 

2 Really six miles. ' Itin., vol. vii. p. 39. 

* It is also possible that Withcall, Calceby, and Calcewaith are from 
kelda. 

* Madsen, Sjsel. Stedn., p. 243. " Words and Places, p. 240. 



RECORDS OF NATURE. 20/ 

sented. Ax, another form o^ Esk,\s ofCeltic origin, and 
saves from oblivion the water that once surrounded this 
district.^ The English, who followed, added ey and 
made it Axey, which still survives in the large parish 
of Haxey. The Danes came next and marked it for 
their own by the addition of Jiolnie, whilst more recent 
occupants have done their share, by first corrupting 
Axeyhohne into Axelholme, then cutting Axelholme down 
to Axholme, and finally by lengthening it to " the Isle of 
Axholmer 

There are local names in Denmark which favour the 
idea that Washingburgh may have been so called by 
the Danes from the nature of the situation. It is easy 
to see that, in former times, this spot was almost, if not 
quite, an island, rising conspicuously from the midst of 
lake and swamp stretching far and wide on both sides 
of the Witham. Vase^ the Danish form of Old Norse 
veisa, a pond of stagnant water, is often used in Danish 
local names, to describe the swampy character of the 
situation,^ and such names as Vassingrod, Vasevei, Passe- 
baek (originally Wasebec), suggest a similar derivation 
for Washingburgh. Probability, however, will still point 
to the great family of Wasing as the founders of this 
place. 

* See Leland's visit to Thurne (Thorne), Heathfield' (Hatfield, the 
Hethfelth of Bede) and Axholme ; he evidently travelled in this district 
much more by boat than coach. (Itin., vol. i. p. 39.) 

- There is also vassett, wet, watery. 

^ Madsen, Sjasl. Stedn., p. 252. Mr. Madsen, however, observes that 
these place-names may be derived also from bundles of faggots (still known 
in some parts of Scandinavia by the name of vase) , laid on watery places to 
make them passable. See also L. C. D., p. 120, note to Hokis vase. 



208 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Dogdyke is usually, and with good reason, held to be 
a slight corruption of Dockdyke.^ This name has been 
regarded as the only surviving memorial of a dock, that 
once existed at this point of the Witham for the con- 
venience of ships, in those days, when the tide flowed as 
far as Lincoln, and vessels, bound for that city, paid toll 
at Dockdyke.^ It is, however, perhaps more probable 
that the name was given by the Danes long before any 
dock was built. Old Norse d'okk^ means a pool or pit, 
and to this day, close to Dogdyke station, is a large area 
of unreclaimed swamp,* which must once have been a 
deep pool in the midst of surrounding fen, and may have 
given a name to the place. 

' In Hundred Rolls it is variously spelt as Doccedik, Dockedigg, 
Docedig, and Docdic. 

- As late as 1265 (Anderson, Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 29), and even 
later, for Dockedik is mentioned more than once in the Hundred Rolls in 
respect of tolls. 

^ Latham derives dock from Old Norse dokk ; but Professor Skeat, in his 
Etym. Diet., does not mention this word, and while pronouncing the history 
of the word to be obscure, refers to Old Dutch dokkc, a harbour ; Danish 
dokke, Swedish docka, German docke, Low. Lat. doga, ditch, canal. 
Wedgwood, however, suggests quite a different derivation (see his Contested 
Etymologies). 

* This swamp is perhaps as nearly a relic of the Fens as may be found 
in Lincolnshire. In addition to all the commonest water plants, I have 
found the following upon the spot, Utricularia vulgaris. Ranunculus lingua 
(Spearwort), Hottonia pahislris (water-violet), Stellaiia glauca, Thalictrum 
flaviiin, SiuTti latifoliiwi, etc. 



CHAPTER XL 

RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 

" Yon lonely Thorn, would he could tell 
The changes of his parent dell, 
Since he, so grey and stubborn now, 
Waved in each breeze a sapling bough ; 

!|S ^ JjC ^ }[* "t" 

'Here in my shade,' methinks he'd say, 

' The mighty stag at noontide lay ; 

The wolf I've seen, a fiercer game, 

(The neighbouring dingle bears his name,) 

With lurching step around me pro^^•l 

And stop against the moon to howl ; 

The mountain-boar, on battle set 

His tusks upon my stem would whet, 

While doe and roe and red deer good 

Have bounded by through gay green-wood.' " 

Mar)nioii. 

In any considerable number of local names, whatever 
race or language they represent, we can trace the record 
of certain forms of life, which did once, even if they do 
not now, characterize the district. No doubt some un- 
certainty may be charged against the suggested origin of 
a few amongst the names that will be considered in this 
chapter ; many, however, of the derivations are beyond 
question, and even in those which are most purel}- 

P 



2IO LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

conjectural, there is at least some show of reason and 
probability. 

The well-known name of Derb}', which, under Danish 
auspices, replaced the earlier North Weortig,-^ has always 
been regarded as a proof that the neighbourhood of that 
town was, in the tenth century, a wild uncultivated tract, 
abounding with gamc.'-^ Lincolnshire, too, can boast, 
though in a humble way, of a Derby, for such is the 
name of a hamlet belonging to Burton-on-Stather. The 
deer, the wolf, the boar and the wild ox have long since 
disappeared from the spot ; but'the name survives to tell 
of the time, when Lincolnshire folk were greater hunters 
than farmers, and when bad seasons were less disastrous 
than nowadays. To this Derby we may, with some 
probability, add Derry thorpe •' in the Isle of Axholme, 
which may well be a slight modification of Dyrathorp.'* 

The fact of the red deer's horns having been found 
on the spot does not necessarily connect itself with 
the name of Hartsholme,^ near Lincoln, inasmuch as 
every moor and beck in the county yields similar 
remains ; yet it is probable that this name, like Hjortholm, 

' i.e. Northworth. 

^ Old Norse dyr, like the Saxon dcur, embraces all four-footed wild 
animals. This comprehensive use of the word was not obsolete in Shake- 
speare's'time ; cf. "Mice and rats and suclVsmall deer," King Lear, KoX III. 
sc. 4. We probably have a relic of this more general use in the Lincoln- 
shire provincialisms hccdcr and shcedei; i.e. male and female sheep (see M. 
and C. Gl., p. 132). 

^ Unless Stonehouse is right in saying that Derrythorpe is a corruption 
of Deddythorpe. It has also been conjectured that Driby is a corruption of 
Derby, but this is improbable. 

* Cf. DyrafjorSr and Dyra-staSir, in Iceland, Dyrbyc, etc., Denmark. 

* A connection suggested in White's Lincolnshire, 1882. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 211 

in Denmark, is a record of this particular kind of game,^ 
which was abundant in many parts of the county when 
the Danes settled in it.'-^ Hj(5rtr, however, was not 
an uncommon name '^ amongst the Northmen, and it is 
quite possible that in our Hartsholme we have only a 
personal memorial. 

Time was, when the wolf haunted every forest in the 
kingdom. As the natural foe of man it was doomed to 
■destruction ; yet it was not until a recent date that the 
last of the species was seen in Britain. From the full 
and interesting records collected by Mr. Harting, it 
appears that the wolf finally disappeared from England 
in the reign of Henry the Seventh, — the dales of North 
East Yorkshire being probably its last stronghold.^ In 
Scotland it lingered on until 1740, whilst in Ireland the 
last recorded capture was from the Wicklow mountains 
about the year 1770. 

^ Old Norse /ijor/r, gen. hjartar ; Danish hjort ; Anglo-Saxon heart. 

- The red deer roamed over some parts of the county to a comparatively 
late period. In Leland's time they were plentiful on Thorne Waste and 
round Hatfield. "The quarters about Heathfield (Hatfield) be forest 
ground, and though wood be scars there yet is great plenty of red deere 
that haunt the Fennes and the great mores thereabout, as to Axholme- 
warde and Thurne village." (Itin., vol. i. p. 37.) James I. hunted the red 
deer in this locality ; and from a circumstance narrated by Sir C. Anderson 
(Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 70), they seem to have been i^lentiful in the 
beginning of the eighteenth centur}'. 

^ It occurs in the Landnamabok. 

* John of Gaunt is said to have killed the last wolf in Yorkshire in the 
WestRiding (see Green's Making of England, p. 255). But Mr. Harting 
clearly proves that the animal was comparatively common at the close of 
the fourteenth century in the neighbourhood of Whitby, where it lingered 
until the reign of Henry the Seventh. (Harting's Extinct British Animals, 
p. 148.) 



212 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

At what date Lincolnshire became completely free 
from this pest it is impossible to say, but since the county 
was never, within historical times, densely wooded, it may 
have been extirpated at a comparatively early period. 
It is somewhat remarkable, moreover, that, although 
Mr. Harting gives historical notices connected with the 
wolf from twenty-three different counties, Lincolnshire 
(next in size to Yorkshire), is not amongst them.^ 

It cannot be said with certainty, — it can hardly be 
advanced with confidence, — that we have any Danish 
local names to remind us of the ravages of this animal ; 
yet it is not impossible that those of Wragby, Wrag- 
goe, Wrawby, Wragholme, when first given by the 
Danes, had reference to the wolf.^ Other suggestions 
might be made, but by far the most probable derivation 

^ Though every county bordering on Lincolnshire is mentioned, viz. 
Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonsliire, Cambridge- 
shire and Rutland. 

- Wraggoe, a wapentalce, D. B., Warago ; Wragby (a small town in 
Wraggoe), D. B., Waragebi ; Wrawby near Brigg, D. B., Waragebi and 
Wirchebi ; Wragholme, not mentioned in D. B. , but in Hundred Rolls 
Wargholme, so, too, in C. I. (Edward I.); cf. Welfliolme, in Messingham. 
The first three of these names are connected with a part of the county 
where the wolf is likely to have most abounded and survived the longest- 
Edmunds (Names of Places) suggests as a derivation some i:)ersonal name 
connected with Danish vrng, wreck, and meaning to destroy; "Wragby 
(Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) the abode of the Danish destroyer." It is 
more than possible that most of these places, if not all, are named after a 
person ; but even then the name of the person would be Vargr, which might 
be given to a chief of great ferocity, or to one who had been guilty of 
sacrilege (for an act of profanity, Frithiof, the hero of the Saga, was called 
" Varg i Veum," z'.c. wolf in the sanctuary) ; and the analogy of such names 
as Aslacoe, Haverstoe, etc., would certainly lead us to connect Wraggoe 
with a personal name. Whatever may have been the case in regard to the 
other names, the probability is great that Wragholme was so-called as being, 
a well-known haunt of the wolf. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 213 

of the prefix in these names is Old Norse vargr, the 
ordinary term for the wolf amongst the Northmen. 
When contemplated in connection with Odin, to Avhom 
it was sacred, or when, from its fierceness, strength and 
tenacity of purpose, it typified the warrior, this animal 
was honoured with the name of nlfr; but, as viewed 
from a more practical point of view by the farmer and 
shepherd, it went by the less complimentary title of 
vargr} Is it not then possible that Wragby, Wraggoe 
and Wragholme hand down to us the story of the war 
waged by our forefathers with this dangerous foe, until 
it ceased to haunt the woods and roam over the wolds 
of Lincolnshire ? While the name of Wragby may thus 
tell of the wolf, that of ScuUar Wood betokens the 
presence of the fox, once as unmercifully persecuted as 
the wolf, although now enjoying the double privilege of 
being carefully preserved and pitilessly hunted. Skollr 
is a common Norse word for the fox, and Scullar Wood 
may be regarded as the ancient Danish equivalent of 
our fox covert.^ 

It is the general opinion that many of the local names 
derived from swine refer not to the tame, but to the 
wild animal, which, like the wolf, abounded throughout 
the kingdom in earlier days. This view is strengthened, 

' For vargr, see CI. and Vigf. Diet. This word, in the ancient Saxon 
of the HeHand, is ivarag, which is identical with the form found in D. B., 
Waragebi. The word varg is still used in Norway as a synonym for idv. 
The English word ivoriy\=, connected \\\\\\vargr (see Skeat's Etym. Diet.). 
The English surnames IVcarg ■i.wtX Wcargc are probably the lineal descend- 
ants of Anglo-Saxon zvcarg, wolf, outlaw. 

- Skollr may, however, mean evil spirit ; woods were accounted a 
favourite haunt of fiends. 



214 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

at least for Lincolnshire, by the fact that such names in' 
Denmark as Svino, Svinbek, Svinning, are, by the best 
authorities, referred to the wild boar of the woods rather 
than to its domestic representative.^ 

Swinethorpe,'^ near Lincoln, Swinthorpe in Snelland, 
and probably Swinhop,'^ near Binbrook, may therefore not 
only remind us of the large consumption oi pig-cheer in 
the household of an ancient Dane, but may also preserve 
the memory of the wild swine which provided such 
exciting sport, as well as such excellent food for our 
ancestors.^ The poet Burns, indeed, might further add 
that such names remind us of the Dane himself, who, 

* See Madsen, SjkI. Stedn., p. 275. 

- Swinethorpe, however, may be a corruption of Sweynthorpe. 

* There is a Swinhope near Middleton in Teesdale, where almost all 
the local names are Norse. Old Norse /ioJj is a small land-locked bay. In. 
this sense it is often found in local names in Scotland {e.g. Kirkhope), as 
well as in Scandinavia. Still more frequently, however, is Jiope met with 
as a suffix in the names of inkind places, and in this connection means a shel- 
tered, sloping hollow between two hills, a description with which Swinhope 
well agrees. In this sense it is frequent in Scotland as well as Northern 
England, and Jamieson regards it as an adaptation of the original meaning 
of Old Norse hop (an adaptation made easier by the fact that Old Norse 
hop is i^robably connected with our hoop), in reference to its curved or 
circular form (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., hop). With Swinhope we may 
associate Claxby Hoplands, near Alford, a spot showing the same physical 
features as Swinhope. Skeat (Etym. Diet.) also derives the inland use of 
hope in local names from Old Norse hop, a bay. 

^ We also have in Lincolnshire Swinstead, near Stamford, and Swin 
Wood, near Alford, names which may or may not have been given by the 
Danes. Swinderby has nothing to do with swine (see Chapter vii.). 
Swineshead received its name from an inlet of the sea, which in former 
days extended to this place, and was called Aqua de Swin (Hundred 
Rolls ; see Chapter x.). It ought further to be observed that, in the Lake 
District, sivin in local names sometimes has the force of indicating an 
oblique direction (see discussion of the prefix sioin in various parts of Tlie 
Antiquary., vol. i.). 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 21 5 

like a wild boar out of the wood, overran the civilized 
world, rooting up and destroying wherever he went. 
The poet allows his patriotic zeal to carry him perhaps 
a little beyond the facts of the case, but expresses a 
general truth in the following stanza : — 

" The fell Harpy-ravcii took wing from llie Norlli, 

The scourge of tlie seas and the dread of the shore ; 
The wild Scandinavian boar issued forth 

To wanton in carnage and wallow in gore : 
O'er countries and kingdoms their fury prevaii'd, — 

No arts could appease them, no arms could repel ; 
But brave Caledonia in vain they assail'd 

As Largs well can witness and Loncartie tell." ' 

The exact date of the extinction of the wild boar is 
uncertain. James the First hunted it in Windsor forest, 
and the same king was regaled .with " wnld boar pyc " at 
Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire. The last known his- 
torical record of it is for the year 1683, in connection 
with Chartley, Staffordshire." In regard to our own 
county, it may be assumed that the wild boar long 
survived the wolf. Wild boar hunting was clearly a 
popular pastime in the da}-s of Peter de Chaceporc,^ 
who flourished in Lincolnshire during the reign of 
Edward I. ; and long after his days no doubt the sport 
continued. The ancient seal of the Mayor of Grimsby 

* Caledonia, vol. iv. p. 353, 2nd edit. Caledonia must be taken in a 
restricted sense, if it can be said that the Northmen assailed her in vain. It 
is true that in the south of Scotland they made little impression ; but to the 
west and north, as well as among the islands, they conquered largely and 
settled freely. 

- Harting's Extinct British Animals, j). 102. 

^ Peter de Chaceporc appears in the Lincolnshire section of the Testa 
de Ne\-ill. 



2l6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

represented a boar closely pursued by a dog, while in 
the rear a huntsman winds his horn. This device refers 
to the privilege possessed by the mayor and burgesses 
of Grimsby of hunting in the woods of the adjacent 
manor of Bradley/ the lord of which was bound once a 
year to provide a wild boar for their diversion,^ There 
is, however, no record to show at what date the corpora- 
tion last exercised this privilege, or when the last wild 
swine were seen in the woods of Lincolnshire.^ 

The secluded valley of Cadwell, in the neighbour- 
hood of Louth, was known in earlier times as Cattedale,* 
and it is interesting to find the spelling of our direc- 
tories corrected by those who dwell upon the spot, and 
still speak of Caddie.^ It would be very rash to assert 
that, in this name, we have a notice of the wild cat, so 
common throughout the kingdom in .comparatively 
recent times ; yet it may be, that we here have the 
record of this animal now extinct in every part of Eng- 
land and Wales, and lingering only, so far as Britain is 
concerned, in the wilder parts of Northern Scotland.^ 

* A part of this wood is still in existence. 

^ See Shadows of the Past, Lincoln Arch. S. Report, p. 6, 1S59. 

' The ancient device upon the shield of Grimsby has been replaced by 
another. In the later escutcheon, the connection with Bradley Wood is 
commemorated by two oak branches, whilst the wild boar courant is re- 
placed by three boars' heads. (Harting, Extinct British Animals, p. 87.) 

* It is, therefore, quite a mistake to suppose that Cadwell is the East 
Anglian form of Chadwell. 

^ This, however, would be by no means conclusive against Cadwell 
being the correct form, since the common people habitually omit the w, e.g. 
Tathell for Tathwell, Burrell for Burwell, etc. 

^ The counties of Sutherland, Ross, and Cromarty are at present the 
head-quarters of the wild cat. It does not occur in Caithness, but is still 
met with in the northern jiarls of Argyleshire and Perthshire (Alston, 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 21/ 

It may perhaps be added that the predatory habits of 
the wild cat seem to sui^gest a connection with the 
adjacent valley of Dovendale/ a name which is itself a 
record of animal life, and tells us that, like ourselves, the 
ancient settlers in our county — 

" Iieard the blue dove, crying out 
Upon the treetop's branching wand." 

Or it may be, that the cat, from which this dale received 
its name, was the marten cat, still occasionally trapped 
in this part of the count}-. Old Norse kottr (genitive 
kattar), although applied to the domestic cat, originally 
meant the marten or weasel," and it is possible that both 
Cadwell (Cattedale) and Catta Furze (in the north-west 

Fauna of Scotland, p. 1 1 ; see also Colquhoun, The Moor and Loch, vol. 
ii. p. 76, 4th edit., and J. A. H. Brown, F.Z.S., Notes on the Rarer Animals 
■of Scotland, Zoologist, Jan., 1881). In Bell's British Quadrupeds, how- 
ever (2nd edit., p. 222), the wild cat is said to be still found in the woods of 
Northern England, the mountains of Wales, and some parts of Ireland. 
It is, however, almost certain that the true wild cat is now confined to 
Scotland. 

' This name, in spite of the suffix, can hardly be regarded with certainty 
as Norse. The insecurity of trusting to present similarity in the comparison 
of names is well illustrated by that of Dovendale. With this we should 
naturally associate Dovedale, in Derbyshire, and Dovenby, in Cumberland; 
and if we go beyond our own shores, we are struck with the likeness of 
Dufansdalr, in Iceland, to Dovendale, in Lincolnshire ; yet Dovedale is 
named after the river Dove ; Dovenby is a corruption of Dolfinby (from Old 
Norse name Dolgfinnr), while Dufansdalr is the dale of Dufan, one of the 
few Celtic names which found their way to the far north. 

- The more usual word, however, for marten was nidr'Sr (see CI. and 
Vigf. Diet. ), and the fact that this animal has lingered in the neighbour- 
hood until the present day, suggests the possibility of Motlier Wood, in 
Saleby, having been so-called from the martens that haunted it. Recent 
captures of this now scarce animal have been reported from Burwell, 
Worlaby, Hainton, and Bardney. 



2l8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

of the county), maybe so-called from an animal once far 
more abundant than it now is, and much prized on 
account of its fur.^ 

The badger,^ which, like the marten, is not yet ex- 
tinct in some of the wilder parts of the county, may 
have given a name to Broxholme, near Lincoln, as it did 
to Broxbourne, in Herts, and Brokenborough,'^ in Wilt- 
shire ; but Brokkr was a personal name among the North- 
men, and it may well be that Broxholme immortalizes 
some early representative of the ancient family of 
Brock.'^ It is yet further possible that the badger has 
nothing at all to do with this name, and that it might 
be more correctly attributed to the coarse grass that 
grew upon the holm, and which, by the Old Norsemen, 
would have been called brok, whence Brokey," an island 
mentioned in the Landnamabok.^ 

We may with some reason suppose that the name of 

* It is quite possible that Cattedale, like Cacleby (D. B. , Catebi), was so 
named after a settler of the very common name of Kati, l)ut there are few 
instances of Lincolnshire dales being called after a person. 

- Old Norse brokkr ; Old English brock. 
^ See Words and Places, p. 320. 

* In Phillips's Coimty Atlas there are at least fifty names beginning with 
Brock, in addition to six beginning with Brocken or Broken. In all pro- 
bability the gi-eater number may be assigned to the badger. 

^ See CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

^ There is a hill at West Rasen called Brokenback Hill. It seems pro- 
bable that this, now senseless, name originally meant either Badger Hill or 
Bracken Hill [broken being a likely corruption of bracken). The suffix 
l>ack can hardly be other than Danish bakkc, Swedish backe. Old Norse 
bakki, English bajik. Captain Thomas, in his remarks upon the Hebrides, 
notices the name of Tabac, which he shows to be the corruption of Habac 
(high hill). The redundant ///// would be added, in subsequent times, to 
Broken Back, as naturally as it was to Nab or How ; cf. Nabs Hill, Turky 
Nab Hill, How Hill. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFK. 219 

Hareby preserves a record of the hare/ which, in earlier 
days, as now, loved the hills that rise out of the fens 
and stretch northward to the Humber. The modern 
form of the name is but slightly modified from the Old 
Norse Heriby, whilst the prefix is identical with that of 
Hareskov, in Denmark.^ 

It has often been supposed that such names as 
Roxby, Roxholme, Ruckland, and Rokeby express the 
stony or rocky nature of the soil. But independently 
of the fact that the name, if such were its origin, would 
not always suit the situation, we should thus have, pre- 
vious to the Norman Conquest, the Norman-French 
prefix roche compounded with Saxon or Danish termi- 
nations, — a combination that we should hardly expect, 
unless through exceptional circumstances. The prefix, 
in such names as we have enumerated, is far more likely 
to be the Old Norse hrokr, Anglo-Saxon hroc, rook. 
In regard to the name of Ruckland ^ (pronounced by 
the natives Rookland) this derivation is all the more 
probable from the fact that the modern Danish Raage- 
lund {J..e. Rookland) appears, in Liber Census Danis, 
as Rokaelund,^ which exactly agrees with the Roke- 

' Old Norse hcri, Danish ha)-e. This name Hareby may be from the 
personal name Heri, but the possessive s is lacking. 

- Eresby, in the same neighbourhood, is also very likely to be traced to 
the same source. In Domesday Book it is found as Aresbi, Heresbi, and Iresbi. 

^ The church of Ruckland is noticed in Domesday Book, and affords 
the only instance in the county of dedication to St. Olaf. The death of this 
Northern saint (a.D. 1030) may help to fix the date of the first church built 
upon the spot, whilst his connection with it tends to illustrate the associa- 
tion of the place with its Danish colonists. 

* It ought, however, to be stated that, by a curious coincidence, the 
English word ruck, i.e. heap, is represented in modern Danish also by raage. 



220 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

lund of the Hundred Rolls and other early English 
records.^ 

We may find another record of this bird, or one 
nearly allied to it, in the ancient CrakpoP at Lincoln, 
a name still associated with one of the churches known 
as St. Mary Crackpool, Newland. Newland is a con- 
siderable tract of land lying to the west of Lincoln- 
below-hill, which received its present name, no doubt 
(as Camden suggests), when it was recovered from the 
waters " which overflowed all the ground hereabouts." 
These waters, together with the birds that frequented 
them, arc commemorated in the name of Crackpool, i.e. 
Crowpool. Any one who has seen the grey-backed, or 
Danish crow busy on the banks of the Witham, picking 
up the scraps of refuse that float down from the city 
above, can well picture the scene from which the name 
of Crackpool took its rise.^ The Danish crow, which 
feeds on carrion and other refuse,'* was as regular a 
visitant to these shores in centuries gone by as at the 
present time, and would be attracted in large numbers 
to a pool, which, from its situation so near the town, 
was sure to be well provided with savoury morsels. 

' Crowland is, perhaps, an English version of Danish Rokelund. Tliere 
is a place in the Yorkshire Domesday Book called Rocwid, i.e. Rookwood. 

^ Crakpol, Hundred Rolls. Old Norse k}'aka, Danish krage, a crow ; 
also Old Norse krdkr, a kind of crow or raven. There is a Craker Lane 
near Withern. The word pool, though not distinctive of Danish place- 
names, is by no means absent from them. 

^ In Denmark Kraghave, Krakbierg, Krakgaard, Krakhusene may be 
named from the crow. 

■• This crow is popularly known (in company with the carrion crow) as 
the cad-croK', a corruption oU:ct-i?-oiv. (See Gloss.) 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 221 

One more illustration from animal life, and we pass 
to the native vegetation of the county. Frogs and 
toads, ignoble as their nature may be deemed, are not 
without a place in our local nomenclature. We can 
hardly be wrong in supposing that Fade Moor, near 
Epworth, has perpetuated the Old [English word paddc, 
a toad, which has long since perished from ordinary use, 
but still survives in many provincial forms,^ — notably in 
paddock, which is heard in many parts of England as 
well as Scotland. The Old English paddc, like padda, 
its Scandinavian original, meant a toad ; but the modern 
Danish paddc is frog as well as toad, an extension of 
meaning which maybe observed in the surviving English 
forms of the word. We may, therefore, w^th some 
reason suppose that when we find it in local names, it 
should be taken in its widest sense. This is made all 
the more probable by the fact that in Iceland, where 
there are no frogs or toads, padda is used to designate 
any beetles or insects that inhabit stagnant water.^ 
Pode Hole, in Finchbeck, chiefly remarkable as being the 
lowest point of the fen district,^ as well as Fade Hole, 
in Louth, probably take their name from the same origin.* 

' Halliwell gives paddock, toad, also frog ; pad-siool, toadstool ; podc, 
a tadpole. Jamieson, /^i/t', a toad, frog ; paddock, ox ptiddock, frog, toad ; 
podle, a tadpole. The Lincolnshire pot-noddle, tadpole, is evidently con- 
nected with these. 

* See CI. and Vigf. Diet. 

^ See White's Lincolnshire, 1S82. 

* It may be added that the name Frog Hall is of connnon occurrence in 
Lincolnshire. Pademoor may be compared with the well-known name of 
Frogmoor. Fade Kier (Denmark) would have a meaning very near Fade 
Moor. 



222 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

We proceed to inquire what indigenous plants are 
recorded in our local names, 

Heydour, near Ancaster, and Keadby, near Crowle, 
appear to be names that once described the natural 
feature most characteristic of the spot. Heydour almost 
preserves the sound, though not the spelling of Old 
Norse Jiei^ar} which is constantly found in local names, 
sometimes absolutely, sometimes in connection with a 
suffix. Heydour is situated in what is still known as 
the heath district, and Oseby, a hamlet attached to the 
village, is mentioned in Domesday Book both as Hedebi 
and Wesbi. There is at the present day a large farm 
close to Heydour called the Heath Farm, which may 
be regarded as a connecting link between the Domesday 
Directory of the Conqueror and the County Directory 
of the nineteenth century.'-^ Keadby, near Crowle, is 
Hedebi in Domesday Book (Hatheby, in A. O. D.), and 
there is still a spot marked upon the map as Keadby 
Common. Hatfield Chase, not far distant, which pre- 
serves the memory of the same natural feature, is a 
corruption of Heathfield Chase,^ as it was still called in 

^ But Old Norse heif>r was employed more generally than our word 
heath, especially in Iceland, where the barren tracts of fell between the foot 
of one fjord, 'or dale, and that of another, are called hci^ar (see CI. and Vigf. 
Diet.). It may be added thata possible origin of Haydour maybe found in the 
proper name Hodur, or Heidur, which JMr. Ferguson detects in Hethersgill. 

• Heydour in Domesday Book is Hadre ; in Test. Nev., Heidure and 
Haydore. Camden mentions it as Hather (vol. i. p. 426), and cf. hadder = 
heather (Jam., Scotch Diet.). There is in Leicestershire a Hether, which 
appears in Domesday Book as Hadre, but as early as the twelfth century is 
found as Hether. It is bounded on the north by Normanton-on-the-Heath. 

^ Heathfield. Anglo-Saxon /ta^ = Old Norse /la^r. Thus the Lin- 
colnshire surname Haithe is the Old Norse equivalent of Heath. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 223 

the time of Lcland.^ The name of I Icadby or Heathby 
is exactly reproduced in the Icelandic HeiSa-baer and 
the Danish Haddeby,^ interesting from its having been 
the first missionary station in the effort to evangelize 
Denmark.'*^ 

Sort Hill, near Stow, most likely derives its name 
from heather that once grew, but grows no longer, on 
the spot. In Old Norse and in the modern Cleveland 
dialect alike, the idea of blackness is associated with the 
true heather of the moors, Calluna vulgaris ;'^ and it 
seems, therefore, by no means unlikely that while such 
names as Hei^ar and Heathby were given to uncul- 
tivated moorland without reference to any specific vege- 
tation. Sort Hill indicates a particular kind of heath, 
which once covered many more square miles of the 
county than it does at the present day. There was a 

* Leland's Itin., vol. i. p. 37. There is a short but interesting notice 
of this county in early times in Green's Making of England, pp. 270, 
271, 

" Formerly Ha;deby, or Haithaby. 

^ Anskar settled at Haddeby, near Schleswig, in 827. (See Maclear's 
Conversion of the Northmen, p. 14.) But the general conversion of the 
Danes did not take place for many years. Indeed, the Danish settlers in 
England rather led the way in this respect for their kindred in the mother 
country (Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 167). 

* In Cleveland the heather {Calluna vulgaris) is called the Black Ling ; 
and this may perhaps be the original meaning of Icelandic sorin-lyng ; for 
while sortu-lyiig is described in CI. and Vigf. Diet, as black-ling, a kind of 
dyer's weed, sortii-lita is to dye with black heather ; sorta is to dye black ; 
also sb., a black dye. These words are all connected with sva7-tr ; Danish 
sort, black. Sort is a very common prefix in Danish local names : Sorterup, 
Sortberg, Sorthoi, Sorteland, Sortkier, besides many others. It may be 
worthy of remark that, in Denmark, epithets of colour are more often 
derived 'from characteristic vegetation than from any other feature (see 
Madsen, Sja;l. Stedn., p. 302). 



224 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Lingliow in Ashby-dc-la-Laund, when the Hundred 
Rolls were compiled ; and it will appear from what has 
been said that Linghow and Sort Hill may have been 
almost convertible terms. 

There are several names which seem to have been 
derived from the thick brushwood, amid which the 
Anglo-Danish home was often built, — brushwood, that 
had perhaps, in some instances, sprung from the charred 
remains of forest swept away by fire in the viking's 
march. Riseholm.e,^ two Risbys, and perhaps Reasby,^ 
may thus be traced to Old Norse Jiris;' shrub or brush- 
wood, a word very frequently found in the local names 
of every Scandinavian district. Risby, Riisbyegaard, 
Riisumgaard, in Denmark ; Hn'sar and Hri'sholl, In 
Iceland, Avill suffice as examples. 

The woods have disappeared from Timberland, and 
the name must be reckoned amongst those that rescue 
from oblivion natural features, which can be no longer 
traced; for the spot, to which such a name was attached, 
must have been characterized by abundant forest. If 
it is fair to draw any inference from the radical meaning 
of the prefix,'* we may suppose this place to have been 

1 There is little doubt that Riseholme is a corruption of Risum, as the 
name appears in D. B. The suffix IwIdic is unsuitable to the situation. 
Urn is the Danish form of the German hciui, English Jiavi ; e.g. Billum, 
Vadum, Husum ; cf. Househam, Lincolnshire; D. B., Usun ; Hundi-ed 
Rolls, Husum. 

- Risby in Roxby, Risby near Walesby, and Reasby in Stainton by 
Langvvorth. 

^ Old Norse hrh, Anglo-Saxon Jins, Old English rys or vis {rise or 
;■/(■(', is still a provincialism in the .South) ; Danish riis, German rcis. 

* Old Norse tiiiibr, Anglo-Saxon timber. The form of Timbrelunt in 
D. B. marks this name as rather Danish than English. Tinibr, in its 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 225 

a centre, from which neighbouring settlers drew their 
supplies of building material. 

We may now proceed to notice a few names that 
point to certain species of vegetation indigenous to the 
county. These names may, in some instances, be re- 
cords of trees and plants most characteristic of the spot, 
— most likely, therefore, to attract the eye and impress 
the mind of the stranger ; in other cases, they may have 
been derived from boundary marks, which often consisted 
of sacred or conspicuous trees. In ancient charters, the 
oak, the ash, the beech, the lime, the birch, the thorn 
and the elder are frequently met with in this connec- 
tion ; ^ and it may be regarded as almost certain that 
some of our Ashbys and Thorntons have handed down 
the memory of long-forgotten marks and boundaries. 

Of the ash we need not speak particularly here, since 
it has already claimed our attention in an earlier section.^ 
Of the oak, only second in sacredness and importance to 
the ash, we find but few notices in our extant place- 
names,^ although it certainly formed the chief element 
in the primeval forests of Lincolnshire. And it is, per- 
haps, in this tree that we may find the one living link 
between the times of which we arc speaking and the 
present day. The name of Woodthorpe (a hamlet be- 

original signification, was wood felled for building purposes, and the verb 
Umbra, to build, indicates that early Teutonic dwelling-houses were made 
of wood (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., timhr). 

' Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 52, note, edit. 1876. 

- See Chapter iv. 

^ In ancient deeds we come across the Norse forms of eyk and eg, in 
Eykholm and Egefeld, Eneke and Eineikemor. 



226 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

longing to Strubby) proves that, at least in some parts, 
the indigenous forest stretched across the middle marsh 
down to the very edge of the level that skirts the sea. 
Here stands an oak tree of unknown, but very great 
antiquity.^ Close beside it, in the same field, is one of 
those square encampments so frequently met with in 
the neighbourhood ; ^ and fancy may picture the Danish 
warrior wandering beyond the limits of the adjacent 
earthwork, to rest beneath the shade of this very tree, 
which, though shorn of its former glory, still puts forth 
some foliage every summer. 

The name of Acthorpe, near Louth, preserves the 
memory of ancient trees, whose degenerate descendants 
are still dotted over the ground.^ Another name in 
which the oak tree figures may, though more doubtfully, 
be referred to the Danish colonists. There is a place 
close to Gainsborough now called Thon©ck, a name 
which is very variously spelt in old documents. In 
Domesday Book it is Tunec ; Rot. Chart, has Thon- 
naick ; while in the Hundred Rolls it is Thunnack, 
Thunyak, Thunneck, Thunneyck and Thunnock. Le- 
land,^ writing at a later period, calls it Thonak. In the 
face of these variations it is difficult to say whether the 

' This oak measures forty feet in girth at the base ; thirty-three feet, 
one foot above the base ; twenty-six feet, one yard above the base ; higher 
up, immediately beneath the fork of the bole, the girth is about thirty feet. 

- As at Carlton, Withern, Reston, and Tothill. 

^ It is the suffix rather than the prefix which makes this name Danish. 
Anglo-Saxon, rtc; Old Norse, «'/'; Danish, ^^; Swedish, ^/i. Oakthorpe in 
Leicestershire is Actorp in D. B. 

* " There lyeth in the same chirche Dr. Edmundes Cornewaile, od. 
1322, that had a great motid manor place, called Thonak, in a wood, a 
mile est from Gainsborow. " (Leland's Itin. vol. i. p. 34.) 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 22/ 

Saxon dc or the Old Norse ei/c should be accounted 
the original form. With regard to the prefix, there is 
good reason to suppose that Domesday Book has pre- 
served the original in Tunec.^ Although it would be 
rash positively to assert that the name itself has any 
connection with the Danes, it is not irrelevant to remark 
that the place is very closely associated with them ; for 
King Sweyn, in 1013, landing his forces at Morton, a 
hamlet of Gainsborough, made his camp at Thonock, 
and it appears not improbable that the king's sudden 
death took place upon this very spot.^ 

Bigby is a comparatively modern corruption of 
Beykeby, in which it is easy to recognize the Old Norse 
dqy/d, beechwood. The beech tree still forms a con- 
spicuous feature in this village, as well as in the adjacent 
and equally picturesque parish of Somerby.^ Nor need 

' It would be thus the equivalent of Acton. The insertion of the aspi- 
rate is no difficulty ; cf. thorpe for torp. In Hundred Rolls Toft apj^ears in 
one case as Thoft, whilst in Denmark we have Thun and Thunoe. 

" The camp at Thonock was, until a recent date, almost perfect (see 
Stark's Gainsborough). King Svveyn's death certainly occurred in the 
neighbourhood of Gainsborough. 

^ The beech tree can hardly be reckoned with certainty amongst the 
indigenous forest trees of Britain. Sir Joseph Hooker does not dispute its 
claim to be a native tree in England from Cheshire southwards (planted 
elsewhere in Great Britain). Caesar, however, states that it did not grow 
in Britain, and its Welsh name (y^zziy/^/ir/) is suspiciously like the Latiny^^^^j-. 
It is not mentioned in an early poem (assigned to the sixth century), 
enumerating many of the common forest trees, and Dr. Daubeny doubted 
whether it grew in England at the time of the Conquest. But he was 
undoubtedly wrong, as a great number of local names will show. Bocholt 
is mentioned in a charter of Offa, and "the old beech" in a charter of 
Edward the Confessor. Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of it as growing wild 
in English woods in the twelfth century (see Pearson's Historical Maps, 
p. 54, 1870). 



228 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

we be surprised that the Danes should have singled out 
this particular object by which to characterize the spot, 
for, better than almost any other natural feature, would 
these trees remind them of the home they had left 
behind. The beech is still, as it was in the days of the 
Romans,^ the most conspicuous and beautiful object in 
a Danish landscape, attaining to a size and luxuriance 
that it reaches nowhere else.^ 

The modern form of the name Barkwith must cer- 
tainly be assigned to Danish influence,^ but the present 
suffix appears to have replaced the earlier worth. Bark- 
with seems admirably to represent the Old Norse 
Bjarkar-vi^r, i.e. Birchwood ; but if the more correct 
form is Barkworth,^ it may either be derived from the 
Anglo-Saxon beorc, birch, or (which is still more pro- 
bable) may preserve the personal name Barca.^ 

There is a Birk Wood in Tumby, but as birk is still 
a common provincialism in the county, we cannot be 
sure that this name dates from an early period. Yet it 
is not without significance, that in an ancient book a 
place called Barkeby is mentioned in connection with 
this neighbourhood.^ 

' See Lyell's Antiquity of Man, p. 9. 

- A large number of places in Denmark derive their name from this 
tree, e.g. Bogede, Bogehoved, Bognces. Danish dog = beech. 

^ IVit/i is Old Norse z'i^r, wood ; of. Withcall, Stockwith. Old Norse 
djork, gen. bjarkar ; in compounds also found as bjarkar. Anglo-Saxon, 
bcoir ; Danish and Scotch, birk. In Old Norse, beech-wood might equally 
be expressed by bjarkar-vvdr and birki-vfSr. 

* There is little doubt that Barkwith is a corruption of Barkworth. See 
Chapter xii. 

' Cf. Barkston. 

" Mentioned with Lusby, Bolingbroke, Ilundleb)-, etc. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 229 

Birkar, a part of Lea Wood, may preserve the form 
of the plural bjarkar, from Old Norse bjork. 

We have several records of the thorn tree, which, in 
the wilder and bleaker districts of the wold, must be 
one of the very few trees indigenous to the soil. Besides 
Withern ^ (already noticed as a probable instance), we 
have the more unquestionable cases of Kelstern,^ Thruns- 
coe,'^ Thurnedale (in Kirton Lindsey), and Scothern.'* 
Smaythorns in Messingham, answers well to Icelandic 
Snid-])ynnr, small thorns, corresponding with snid-hris, a 
shrubbery, smd-kjor, brushwood. Thornton and Hack- 
thorn may be ascribed with equal probability to Dane 
or Angle,^ 

The alder tree is still known as the eller in the 
Cleveland district as well as in Scotland.*^ This name 
was certainly received from the Danes, and represents 
the Old Norse elrir? The word eller, once in common 
use,^ has disappeared from the Lincolnshire dialect, but 

' See Chapter iv. 

" Kelstern, i.e. the thorn at the well. Old Norse kclda, 
^ If we are to judge by variety of spelling, few names gave more trouble 
than this to medieval scribes : D. B., Ternescou ; Hundred Rolls, Thirnesch 
and Thyrnhi ; Cal. Inqu., Thurnesco ; cf, Thurnsco, Yorkshire. 

* Scothern or Scothorne may, however, be possibly connected with 
hyrne or horn, a nook. 

* Old Norse yyrnir and \orn ; Danish ijbrne and torn; Anglo- 
Saxon thorn. Thornton in D. B. is Torentone ; Hackthorne is Hagetorn. 
The compound Mg-thorn is common to Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon. There 
is also a Tome nook near Crowle. 

® See Atkinson's Cleveland Dialect, and Jamieson's Dictionary. 
' Though Jamieson curiously enough considers eller z. corruption of alder 
(see Jamieson's Scotch Diet., revised, 1879). 

* Certainly in the time of Edward III., for, in the I. N. for Lincoln- 
shire, we read of Johannes in the EUeres. The present Lincolnshire 



230 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

still retains its place on our maps in the name of EUars 
at Belton, and Ellabeck in Broughton.^ 

The name of Strubby may commemorate some 
ancient landowner called Strui, whose representatives, 
if not descendants, figure in the pages of the Lincoln- 
shire Domesday Book. Yet the form in which it 
appears in early documents, viz. Strobi, suggests that 
the place was so named from the abundance of sedge 
and rush, which would be natural to the situation. 
These plants play a conspicuous part in the local 
nomenclature of England ; and it is by no means im- 
possible that the rush may have given a name to the 
village of Reston, which adjoins to Strubby.^ In Den- 
mark we find Stroby, Stro, and Stro-lille, all derived 
from Old Norse strd, Danish straa? This word, repre- 
sented in English by straiv, meant the sedges and 
rushes,^ used formerly in large quantities for strewing 
upon floors, thatching roofs, and other kindred purposes.^ 

provincialism for the alder tree is otvlcr, which may be the Old Norse oh; 
an alternative form of elrir. 

' Ellerbeck, in Yorkshire, has been associated with /Elle (Words and 
Places, p, 210), also Ellerburn, etc. The habit of the alder tree certainly 
makes it far more jDrobaljlc that these names are derived from it, than from 
iElle, the founder of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Ellakirk and 
Ellaby are more likely to have taken their name from a person. One of the 
Yorkshire Ellerbys appears in D. B. as Elwordebi. 

- Reston in Domesday Book is Riston, and in Tax. Eccl., A.D. 1291, 
Ryston. This may well be from Anglo-Saxon riscc, a rush. The present 
Rushclifif, a Hundred of Notts, in D. B. is Riseclive. 

^ See Madsen's Sjael. Stedn., p. 300. 

* See CI. and Vigf. Diet., strd. 

^ To this day the Wykehamist knows of clean sheets only by the name 
of clean straw. Reeds were largely and generally used in the last century 
for thatching. "The reeds which cover the fens are cut annually for 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 23 1 

Such uses would naturally give them a certain market- 
able value, and may partly account for the frequency 
with which these plants are noticed in local names. 
There is also a more insignificant Strubby^ in the 
neighbourhood of Wragby, whilst, for the purpose of 
illustration, mention may here be made of two appa- 
rently distinct places called Straeng and Streng, which 
figure in the Rot. Chart, of Henry III.'-^ 

In the same way Star Car, in the Isle of Axholmc, 
was so named from the coarse grasses and rushes that 
abound there, and which, when gathered for thatching, 
are still called starthack. This star is the Old Norse 
stdrr, Danish star, and our Star Car may be compared 
with Starbaek, in Denmark, and with Starbeck and Star- 
bottom in Yorkshire.^ 

The name of Ingoldmells is interesting, not so much 
because the prefix preserves the memory of one of many 
Ingjalds, who landed on our shores, but rather because 
it indicates the fact that the Danish invaders found the 
sand hills, with the grass that binds them, much as they 
now are. The suffix, ///^//.f, can hardly fail to be the 

thatching not merely cottages but good houses " (Gough's Camden, vol. ii. 
p. 271). Most probably this practice is not yet obsolete in some parts of 
the county (see Thack, M. and C. Gl.). It is worthy of notice, that, while 
in some districts, the coarse grass of the moors is called thack, the same term 
is applied, in the marsh, to the common reed -grass, Anindo phragmites. 

* Though mentioned very frequently in early records, and therefore, 
perhaps, a place of greater consideration then than now. 

- Straeng, manerium ; mentioned in conjunction with Lindwood, 

Branston, Langworth, and Brakin. ^^^„ \ lit>ei"a warren. 

^ The surname Starbuck, which is by no means uncommon in Lincoln- 
shire, is no doubt to be traced to its original in Starbeck. 



2 32 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Old Norse melr, marram grass/ which grows abundantly 
on the sandbanks of our coast.^ By an easy transition, 
this word inclr was applied to the bank itself,^ and in 
this secondary, but more important sense, enters into 
many local names in Iceland and elsewhere.'* It has 
been suggested,'' indeed, that the name of Ingoldmells 
is a record of good work done upon our coast by 
Ingulph, abbot of Crowland,*" towards checking the 
ravages of the sea ; but such a surmise is quite un- 
necessary, besides involving the improbability that the 
place did not receive its present name until after the 
Norman Conquest. 

The name of Grasby, near Caistor, exactly repre- 
sents what, in former days, must have been the most 
characteristic feature of the spot. The present village 
lies upon the lowest slope of the wold, with rich grass 
fields stretching westward into what once was fen, but 
has long since been drained and turned into arable land. 
Thus, then, the name of Grasby preserves an essential 

* Marram, most likely from Old Norse mar-dliiir = sea-straw ; dlmr 
= halmr, which still survives in Lincolnshire as haulm, i.e. the straw of 
beans, peas, etc. (M. and C. Gl., p. 130). 

* These sand-banks are called meels, but as this word is found on portions 
of the coast, where it is not likely the Norsemen introduced it, it would be 
rash to assert that the Lincolnshire viccb can trace their descent to Old 
Norse melr. 

^ See CI. and Vigf. Diet., melr. 

* In Iceland Melr-hverfi, Rau^i-melr ; cf. also Mealista in Lewis, which 
is a corruption of Mela-sta^ar ; also Melbost = Mel-bolsta^r ; Melsetter in 
the Orkneys ; Melby, Shetland (Captain Thomas, Hebrides). See also 
Ferguson, Dialect of Cumberland, mell, meal. 

* See Anderson's Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 29. 

* Installed as Abbot, 1076. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 233 

feature of the country as it appeared to our ancestors, 
when the hills that rise to the east were covered with 
wood, whilst the lowest slopes were clothed with rich 
pasture stretching down to the very edge of the swamp 
beyond.^ 

To Grasby we may append the names of Towland, 
in Corringham, and Great ^Tows, near Louth, which 
were most likely at first associated with a fertile, grassy 
spot,^ such as would naturally become the nucleus of a 
farmer's home. 

We may conclude this chapter with a notice of two 
names which, perhaps, belong more strictly to the 
records of occupation, viz, Appleby and Haverholme, 
the one being apparently connected with the apple, the 
other with the oat. As, however, the former is indi- 
genous, and the latter has belonged to the vegetable 
wealth of England from prehistoric times, there will be 
no great incongruity in introducing the mention of them 
here. 

Haverholme is best known in the history of Lincoln- 
shire for its famous priory, which, in 1164, lent a refuge 
to Thomas a Becket, then under royal displeasure. The 
name, however, tells that the holm, or river island, on 

* In D. B. Grassby is Grosebi. Grosebi may possibly preserve the 
vowel modified in inflection, the a becoming o in the inflected cases. If 
we may trust D. B., the name of Graby, in Aslackby, may be traced to the 
same source. D. B. has Grosebi and Geresbi, which might very well be 
an error for Gresebi. We should thus have, in the one form, an instance of 
the modified vowel 0, and, in the other, the e of derivative compounds, as 
star-gresi, sedge. 

2 See Edmunds (Names of Places), who gives Professor Munch as his 
.authority. Old Norse iS, a tuft of grass, a grassy spot. 



234 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

which the prioiy Avas built, was put to a previous 
use, and grew oats for the Northmen who settled there. 
Habertoft, in Willoughby, also doubtless owes its name 
to the same fact.^ In these particular instances it is 
perhaps the suffix rather than the prefix which asso- 
ciates the name with the Danish settlers,^ for the word 
haver (still in common use in many parts of Northern 
England -^ and in Scotland ^), belongs by no means ex- 
clusively to the language of the Northmen.^ 

" Sir," said Dr. Johnson, " in Lincolnshire there is 
hardly an orchard." ^ In spite, however, of this sweeping 
statement, made just a century ago, we may maintain, 
with good reason, that the apple was cultivated in our 
ill-starred county at least a thousand years before the 

' With Haverholme we may compare Haverland, mentioned as a part 
of Scotter, in 1629. Havercroft is a surname in Lincolnshire, as m other 
parts of England (see M. and C. GL, p. 130). 

^ Still, the word haver is generally considered Danish, when met with 
in local names ; cf. Haverholm, Haverbicrg, Haverlev, Havefdahl, in 
Denmark. 

^ See INI. and C. Gl., also Cleveland GL, sub voce. 

* Jamieson's Scotch Diet. 

* Old Norse hnfr, but only used in pi. hafrar ; Danish //cj'zvr, Dutch 
haver, German haber ; cf. Habertoft. It should be added that Haver- 
holm may be from Old Norse hafr, a goat, especially as hafrar, oats, is not 
found in ancient writers. ITafr, goat, is frequent in local names : Hafra- 
fell, Hafra-gil, llafra-nes (see CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 231). There is a 
Havreholm in Denmark, from hafr, goat (Madsen, Sjael. Stedn., p. 275). 

* Bosivell. " Is not a good garden a very common thing in England, 
sir?" JohnsoJi. " Not so common, sir, as you imagine. In Lincolnshire 
there is hardly an orchard ; in Staffordshire, very little fruit." Bosivell. 
" Has Langton no orchard ?•' Jolinson. " No, sir." Boszvcll. " How so, 
sir?" Johnson. "Why, sir, from the general negligence of the county. 
He has it not, because nobody else has it." (Boswell's Life of Johnson, 
vol. iv. p. 206, 9th edit.) This conversation, we are informed, took place- 
on Good Friday, 17S3. 



RECORDS OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 235 

learned doctor made acquaintance with it. At Appleby 
it may be inferred that the Danish settlers found this 
tree growing in its cultivated form ; and in this case, it is 
not unlikely that they accepted the language of the 
previous occupants, for they were probably unacquainted 
with the tree in their own land.-^ The name in question 
may record the satisfaction with which the invaders took 
possession of orchards they had not planted, and could 
not designate, without recourse to a foreign tongue.^ 

* The only word for apple, which appears in the ancient literature of 
the North, is cpli, — apaldr being of later introduction. It is easier to connect 
Appleby with Anglo-Saxon appel, itppel, apul. 

* CI. and Vigf. Diet., apaldr. Nevertheless, names connected with 
the apple tree are common in Denmark; e.g. Ebelholt (Eplaholt, 1214), 
Abildore, Abbeltved. 



CHAPTER XII. 

LOST LANDMARKS. 

" Why seeks he, with unwearied toil, 

Through death's dim walks to urge his way, 
Reclaim his long asserted spoil, 
And lead oblivion into day ? " 

Old Mortality. 

In looking through medieval documents, it is not without 
interest that the topographer comes across the names of 
places, which have perished from the modern map ^ and 
possibly have no existing local record, — names, perhaps, 
in many instances, only rescued from total oblivion by 
some connection, registered in ancient deeds, with cir- 
cumstances or persons of long-forgotten interest. A 
mere list of such places might fill a volume. It is the 
object of the present chapter merely to draw attention 

' It does not follow, because our maps retain no record, that therefore 
it is impossible in all cases to fix the locality. Many of these names are, 
doubtless, still attached to fields or lanes or hills or other objects, but are 
known only to those who live upon the very spot. Thus, for example, many 
of the names, given from ancient sources by Mr. J. G. Constable, may still 
be found, more or less disguised, in the parish of Alkborough {se.e. Notes and 
Queries, February 4, 1882). So, too, Kissingland, Werklands, and Werk- 
toftes, mentioned in ISI. and C. Gl., are most likely the Kessinglond, Werk- 
toftes, and Wertland of C. I. (Edward I.). 



LOST LANDMARKS. 237 

to these lost landmarks, by the selection of a few 
specimens, which bear the trace of Danish origin, and 
either contain some allusion to the history of the county, 
or illustrate some ancient feature of the district. 

Many will feel that names of this sort, betraying the 
same general character and date as those which survive 
to the present day, have a special interest of their own. 
As we walk amid the half-decayed, half-fossilized tree- 
stumps on the Mablethorpe shore, wc may recognize in 
them the birch and oak of our surviving woods, but we 
do not therefore deem them unworthy of notice.^ On 
the contrary, the very fact that these submerged forests, 
as they are called, preserve the record of life long since 
gone, and yet bear so close a relation to the life of the 
present, is full of interest. The obsolete names, of which 
we now speak, may be compared with these curious relics 
of our Lincolnshire coast. The life, the history of such 
names is a thing of the past ; yet, by their features and 
structure, they stand in closest relationship to many 
names with which we are still familiar, and to places 
still thronged with human interests. In such names, dug, 
as it were, from the grave, forgotten heroes spring to 
life, early associations are recovered, and lost features of 
the district, whether natural or artificial, are restored at 
least to memory. 

Since it may be accepted as a general rule that the 

^ A visit was paid to these submarine remains by Sir Joseph Banks, in 
1796, for the purpose of examining and reporting. Ynrch, fir and oak 
were the principal species identified ; but in the soft ckiy overlying the 
roots were found perfect leaves of the common holly ; also remains of the 
willow and Anmdo phragmites. 



238 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

personal name attached to a locality Is that of the 
oriehial settler, there can be little doubt that some of 
these disused local names are a contemporaneous record 
of vikings, or their followers, who made their home in 
Lincolnshire a thousand years ago. We cannot help 
regretting that such names as Thorstanflct,^ Arnaldgare,^ 
Swaynesthorpe,^ Grinklethorp,'* and Thurkleby have 
perished from our map. In the annals of the Norsemen, 
few names are more distinguished than Thorsteinn, 
Arnaldr, Swegn, Grimketil and Thorketil, and it is 
interesting to know that they were once stamped upon 
the soil of Lincolnshire, even though their traces have 
lono- since been obliterated. Without dwelling upon 
other deserted villages, which still preserve, in ancient 
records, the names of our Danish ancestors, we may pass 
to a brief notice of some other places that have vanished, 
or are beyond the reach of identification. 

If we may wander for a monient out of Lincolnshire 
into Yorkshire, we shall find a very interesting case of 
submersion in the ancient Ravenser and Raveneserodd. 

1 Probably a brook connected with the Trent. (Hundred Rolls.) The 
name Thurstan is still common. 

- In Nettleham. (Hundred Rolls.) Yox ga}-e, see Glossary, and cf. the 
names of Wellingore and Walmsgate, which is a corruption of Walmers- 
gare. Arnaldgare is also mentioned as le gare in Hundred Rolls. 

3 This may possibly be Swinethorpe. The name of Swegn has suffered 
many indignities, and this may be one of them. 

< The names of Grimketil (or Grimchi!) and Thorketill (or Thorkill) 
were amongst the most famous in the annals of the Anglo-Danes (see 
Worsaae, pp. 136, 138/".). There is good reason to believe that Torksey 
received its name from a Norseman of the name of Thorketil ; but see 
Appendix II. There is a Thurkleby in Yorkshire (D. B., Turgilbi) ; but 
this appears to be from the name Thorgils ; gib = g'lsl. Further, it is not 
improbable that Grimblethorpe is a corruption of Grimkilthorpe. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 239 

These towns which, though closely connected, were 
certainly distinct, the former lying within the parish of 
Kilnsea, the latter belonging to Easington, now lie 
beneath the waters of the Humber off the Holderness 
coast, almost opposite to Grimsby. By what may be 
gathered from ancient notices,^ we may conclude that 
while Ravenser was situated just within Spurn Head 
and formed a part of this extreme point of Yorkshire, 
Raveneserodd lay a little to the north of Ravenser,^ from 
which it was approached by a sandy road covered with 
yellow stones and scarcely raised above the sea.^ 
Towards the end of the thirteenth century this approach 
was broken through by the waters, and Raveneserodd be- 
came an island. Ravenser, which may be identified with 
Ravensburg or Raven spurgh, famous as the landing- 
place of Henry of Bolingbroke,'* was of far older founda- 
tion than Raveneserodd, and lingered in existence after 
its neighbour-town had completely disappeared.^ The 
rise and fall of Raveneserodd were equally rapid. It is 
hardly heard of before the middle of the thirteenth 

' For what is known of Ravenser and Raveneserodd, see G. Poulson's 
History of Holderness, vol. ii. p. 529, etc. 

^ See map prefixed to vol. ii. of Mr. Poulson's work. 

* Such, no doubt, very much as at this day connects Spurn Head with 
Kilnsea. 

* See Shakespeare, Richard II., Act ii. scene 2. 

" The banish'd Bolingbrokc repeals himself, 
And with uplifted arms is safe arrived 
At Ravenspurgh. " 
The date of Bolingbroke's landing was July 4, 1399. 

* Ravenser, otherwise Aid Ravenser and Ravenesse, and later Ravens- 
burg and Ravenspurn. The name of Raveneserodd is varied by Ravensrout, 
Ravensrod, Ravensroad. 



240 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

century, when its importance was already arousing the 
envy of the neighbouring port of Grimsby ; in less than 
a hundred years, we find a commission appointed to 
consider and report upon the condition of the place, now 
sorely reduced in wealth by the ravages of the sea. By 
the end of the century the work of destruction was 
completed so far as regards the town of Raveneserodd.^ 
Ravenser or Ravensburg, with decreasing importance, 
and commerce gradually diverted to Hull, was in 
existence later, but there appears to be no certain 
information as to the time of its final overthrow.^ Not 
a trace of these places can have been visible for centuries, 
yet their memory is kept fresh by a tradition that tells 
how, at dead of night, the bells of buried churches may 
be heard upon the spot,^ whilst the names, which have 
not yet been swept away by the stream of time, have a 
story of their own to tell, and preserve to us at least some 
fragment of authentic history. 

In the first place, the prefix recalls the sacred emblem 
as well as the favourite name of the ancient Danish race. 
It has been conjectured indeed that this point of land 
received its name from the planting of the Raven- 

^ 1377 and 1393 appear to have been critical years in the waste of this 
coast. 

^ Besides Ravenser and Raveneserodd, the following places are known 
to have altogether perished on the coast of Holderness : Redmare, Tharles- 
thorpe (Torulfstorp), Frismersk, Potterfleet and Upsal. Tliere is a place 
called Upsal in Cleveland, which Mr. Atkinson conjectures may have been 
so named from Upsala in Sweden (CI. Gl., Introd. p. xiii.). 

^ A like legend is told of the submerged city of Is in Brittany. See 
also Thirlwall's Remains, vol. iii. p. 196, for a somewhat similar tradition 
about a submerged place in East Prussia. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 24 1 

standard ; ^ and, from its situation, it may well have been 
the first place touched at in some viking-raid ; but it is 
perhaps more natural and reasonable to connect it with 
the personal name of Hrafn, which, as we have already 
seen, was common among our Northern ancestors. If we 
turn to the suffix we find that the name of Ravenser 
preserves, in a somewhat corrupted form, the Old Norse 
eyrr, Danish ore, a promontory, whilst the termination 
of Raveneserodd ^ proves clearly enough that M'hen the 
name was given the place was not an island, but a 
peninsular connected with Ravenser. TJie point of 
Ravenser is a literal translation of Raveneserodd, and the 
name is strictly in accordance with Scandinavian usage.^ 
The tradition of ravages and encroachments made 
by the sea stretches almost the whole way from Grimsby 
to Skegness. It is possible that the great incursion of 
the sea, which, in 1287, wrought such destruction in 
Norfolk, may have done much injury upon the Lincoln- 
shire seaboard. Certain it is, however, that the coast- 



' Worsaae, Danes and Northmen, p. 65. 

^ Old Norse oddi ; Danish od, a point of land, very frequent in local 
names, e.g. Oddi, Odda-sta^r, and in Denmark, Odsherred, Syrodde. 
Eyrar-oddi, or eyrar-tangi = the point or tongue of an cyrr. From some 
statements we might suppose that Raveneserodd was originally an island ; 
and this it may have been previous to the date at which it received its 
name, which certainly implies its connection with Ravenser. 

^ The present Spurn Head is the remnant of Ravenspurn or Ravens- 
burg, which appears in later times to have taken the place of the original 
name Ravensore. Spurn Head or Point is also called The Spurn. Head 
is probably redundant ; cf. Icelandic spyrna, to strike with the feet, Anglo- 
Saxon spunian. But Mr. Charnock would derive it from Anglo-Saxon 
spyrian, to track. The two words spyrian and spurnan are radically con- 
nected. 

R 



242 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

line has considerably receded. A portion of the parish 
of Clee, known by the suggestive name of Hole/ now 
lies beneath the waters. Itterby,^ another part of the 
same parish, has shared a similar fate. Saltfleet and 
Mablethorpe St. Peter have lost their churches, and have 
yielded half their pastures to the waves. Skegness is 
described by Leland^ as having been robbed of its 
splendour by the same cause, and there can be little 
doubt that other villages have also been submerged at 
various points of the coast. It is possible that the 
names of some of these lost places may be preserved in 
ancient documents. Thus, for example, in the Placi- 
torwn Abbreviatio of Edward I., mention is made of 
Salkesthorp and Swyne.^ These places ^ were certainly 
upon the coast, for they are referred to in the matter of 

* Afterwards corrupted into Owle. Hole is mentioned in Hundred 
Rolls with Scartho, Itterby and Thrunscoe. With Hole compare Holbeck, 
Holbeach, Holland. In deeds, however, connected with Grimsby Priory, 
temp. Edward II., Henry VI., and Henry VIII., Holme is often men- 
tioned, and may, perhaps, be identified with Hole. 

* See above. Chapter vii. * See above. Chapter x. 

* Also mentioned in Hundred Rolls. Swyne is described as being a 
port at Germethorp (Grainthorpe) and apparently the next port to Saltfleet. 

' A place called Strutthorp is also mentioned, but this is most likely a 
mistake for Trusthorpe. A list of sea-ports belonging to Lincolnshire given 
y Holinshed, though some are hardly to be recognized for the incorrect 
spelling, contains only one name on this coast, which has disappeared, viz. 
Wilgripe, mentioned also by Leland as four miles from Skegness. Holin- 
shed's Hst is, Selbie (?), Snepe (Knaithe?), Turnbrige {?), Rodiffe (?), 
Catebie (Keadby), Stockwith, Torkseie, Gainsborow, Southferebie, Barton, 
Barrow, Skatermill (Skitter?), Penningham (Immingham or Killingholme ?), 
Stalingborow, Guimsbie, Clie, March Chappell, Saltfleete, Wilgripe (?), 
Mapleford (Mablethorpe) Saint Clements, Wenfleete, Friscon (Friskney), 
Toft (Fishtoft), Skerbike, Boston, Frompton (Frampton), Wolverton (Wy- 
berton), Fossedike. (HoL Chr., vol. i. p. 182, 6th edit., 1807.) 



LOST LANDMARKS. 243 

wreckage, and were apparently in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of Theddlethorpe and Mablethorpc, but no 
trace of them now remains. 

Before we pass from the sea we may pause for a 
moment over Normandepe, which figures in the pages 
of Placitoriim Abbreviatio'^ in regard to some long 
forgotten toll connected with the town of Boston. 
Normandepe apparently lay between the mouth of the 
Witham and the village of Wainfleet, and was doubtless 
a part of, possibly identical with, our Boston Deeps. 
But what a vision of the past is conjured up by a name 
that now has no place, save in dusty folios and ancient 
deeds ! The Northman's deep ! How often, in earlier 
days, were the anxious eyes of the fenmen turned thither 
to catch the first glimpse of those long black ships, 
square sails, and raven-banners that meant death and 
plunder wherever they were seen. The Lincolnshire 
coast is beset with no such dangers nowadays ; the very 
name of Normandepe is a relic of the past, but it is 
a relic that recalls some of the most thrilling scenes in 
the history of our county. 

It would be extremely wearisome to pass in review 
every name in the county that appears to have lost its 
situation, but there are some few of exceptional interest 



' " Quo usque satisfecerint consuetudinem pertinentem scilicet, a villa 
S" Botulph versus mare usque ad quendam locum qui vocatur Norman- 
depe." The name often occurs in medieval documents, and even as late as 
the reign of Elizabeth. In a deed dated 1437, it is spelt Normandiepe, 
the i being the survival of yin Old Norse djiipr, and recalling the kindred 
name of Dieppe in Normandy (see E. Oldfield, Wainfleet and the Wap. of 
Candleshoe, p. 60). 



244 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

which claim a passing notice. Of these the Wapentakes 
perhaps first claim attention. 

Many of the divisions of Lincolnshire have taken 
their names from natural features, which it is now im- 
possible to identify, or from works of industry which 
have long since perished. It has already been observed 
that trees very often constituted the boundaries of 
adjacent properties or districts. Thus the name of 
Aswardhurn (or, as it should be written, Aswardthurn ^) 
preserves the memory of a tree held, possibly, at one 
time in religious veneration. In like manner the wapen- 
take of Gartree^ may have been so-called from some 
triangular clump of trees conspicuously placed, such as, 
to this day, not unfrequently forms a landmark on the 
wolds.^ 

The names of many of our county divisions might 
probably be traced to the tombs of Danish chiefs, who 
landed on our shores in the days of Ethelred and Alfred. 
Thus Haverstoe, a corruption of Hawardshow, was per- 
haps the once well-known sleeping place of HavarSr,* 
whilst Aslacoe ^ and Candleshoe ^ may preserve to us 

* D. B. , Aswardetieme ; Hundred Rolls, Asewardhirn and Aseward- 
thyrne. There can be little doubt that the Asward, whose name attached 
itself to this tree, was the same Dane who settled at Aswarby in this divi- 
sion of the county. 

2 Hundred Rolls, Gayrtree ; R. C, Gairtree ; T. E., Geyrtree. Old 
Norse ^t"/;-;' = a triangular plot of ground. Cf. Bradley Geers ; Chapter vii. 

* Or it is quite possible that Gar represents the personal name of Geirr, 
and that in Gartree wapentake we have a parallel to that of Aswardhurn. 

* In this division is Hawerby, formerly Havardebi. 

^ This wapentake does not contain the village of Aslackby, which is 
situated in the Aveland division. 

* D. B., Calnodeshou. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 245 

the names of other vikings famous in their day. With 
these may be associated the wapentake of Lawress. 
This name, in its first syllable, effectually conceals the 
grand old name of Lagulfr/ and, in its second, most 
likely preserves the Old Norse hreysi, a cairn, familiar to 
us in the Dunmail Raise of Westmoreland. In the 
same way Langoe,^ Graffoe,^ and Treo,^ may represent 
the burial places of nameless heroes from the North, who 
either lost their life in battle with the retreating Saxon, 
or else became the centres of some of the earliest Danish 
communities in Lincolnshire. In a country where tumuli 
abound, it may be impossible to identify these tombs ; 
but in their day they were doubtless hallowed by asso- 
ciations at once tender and heroic, and Asward's thorn 
may have been a record of filial love, like the linden 
tree planted by Frithiof upon his father's grave.^ 

From Domesday Book it would appear that Waneb 
and Winegerebrige ^ were two names for the same 
wapentake. If such was the case, we have in one the 

> C. T. T., Lagolfris; D. B., Lagulris. 

"^ Domesday Book, Langehou. 

^ Hundred Rolls, Grafhow ; cf. Danish, Gravhoi, a barrow, tumulus ; 
and D. B., Graveho, Leicestershire ; Anglo-Saxon g7-(tf, a grave, pi. g. 
grafa ; Old English grave, to bury, used in Havelok the Dane ; also see 
graff— a grave, Scotland (see Jamieson). 

^ Treo, there can be little doubt, stands for Threehows. D. B., Trehos; 
Hundred Rolls, Threhow ; PI. A., Trehovkfes ; R. C., Treo; C. R. C. has 
Triberg, which appears to be identical with Treo. There is a spot called 
Trehoie in Denmark (Sjsel. Stedn. , p. 310). 

* Frithiof Saga. The beautiful passage which describes Frithiofs visit 
to his early home and father's grave will be found (pp. 147-152) in W. L. 
Blackley's translation. 

* Hundred Rolls, Wymbrigg and Wynethbrigg. 



246 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

record of a natural feature, in the other that of a work 
of industry. What particular point of land was indi- 
cated by Waneb, it may be impossible now to say, but 
the name remains to represent a termination very 
common at the present day in Denmark,^ and once 
perhaps familiar in Lincolnshire. 

The name of Winegerebrige, better known in its 
modern dress of Winnibriggs, must have been connected 
with a bridge that spanned the river Witham, which 
runs through this wapentake. As Little Ponton ^ lies 
in this division of the county, it is fair to conjecture that 
the structure which gave a name to the wapentake was 
situated in that parish ; and it is possible that Winni- 
briggs ^ preserves to us the memory of a benefactor, who 
promoted the industries of the district, rather than that 
of a warrior who plundered its inhabitants. 

Attention has already been drawn to the wapentake 
of Walshcroft.^ Walshcroft has replaced the original 
Walescros,^ and a very bold conjecture has been ventured 
as to the possible history of the name. That conjecture 
need not be repeated here ; but, whoever it may have 
been that raised the cross, at least we have, in the name 

* e.g. Kongsore Nebbe, Langholms Nebbe. Neb is the word, in 
ordinary use in Lincolnshire for the beak of a bird. 

- Ponton is supposed to be the Roman Ad pontcm. 

^ The name Wingar may be English or Danish. Old Norse vinr, 
Anglo-Saxon ivine, a friend ; Old Norse geirr, Anglo-Saxon gdr, a spear. 
P'erguson gives it in its German form, Winagar, which appears in a Saxon 
place-name Winagares Stapul. The surname Winegar still has a place in 
our directories (see Ferguson, Surnames as a Science, p. 103). 

* See Chapter v. 

* A division of Derbyshire was also called Walecros. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 247 

of this division, the record of a rehgious monument that 
has probably long since crumbled to dust ; a monument, 
moreover, so completely forgotten, that the commonplace 
and secular croft now does duty for the sacred sign of 
the Christian faith. 

Surprise has been naturally expressed that, in a 
district so thoroughly colonized by Danes as Lincoln- 
shire, no record of a thing, or place of assembly, should 
be left upon the soil, unless indeed we except the city 
of Lincoln, which is known once to have possessed its 
husthing.^ Reasons are elsewhere^ given for discredit- 
ing the view that Thong Caistor is a corruption of Thing 
Caistor ; nor is there any ground for supposing that 
Legbourne and Thimbleby^ may retain, in their first 
syllable, a record of local government. At the same 
time there can be little doubt that every division of the 
county had its own thing ; for a law of King Ethelred, 
which appears to have been purposely passed for the five 
boroughs of Danelagh, orders that there shall be, in 
every wapentake, a Gemot or Thing} 

The absence of these local records is in reality less 

' A council or meeting to which a king, earl, or captain summoned his 
people. We have retained the word in our hustings (see CI. and Vigf. 
Diet., p. 295). 

^ Appendix II. 

' Mr. Isaac Taylor (Words and Places, p. 201) suggests the possibility 
of Legbourne being a corruption of Logbourne and of Thimbleby retaining 
the thing. But Legbourne is always in old documents Lekeburne, and 
appears to be an instance of tautology. Thimbleby is variously spelt : 
D. B., Stimblebi ; Hundred Rolls, Themelby, Tymelby, and Thymelby ; 
PI. A., Thymelby; I. N., Thymilby ; Test. Nev., Thimelby and Thim- 
bleby. Cf. Themelthorp in Norfolk, and Thimbleby (D. B., Timbelbi), 
Yorkshire. ■• Worsaae, Danes in England, p. 159. 



248 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

curious than, at first sight, it may appear, for the things 
would naturally be appointed after the settlement of the 
country, and therefore after the assignment of names to 
our towns and villages. If, however, we bear in mind 
that, not until quite lately, was the Thingwala of 
Whitby ^ brought to light, we may still indulge the 
hope that careful search into deeds connected with 
Lincolnshire might result in similar discoveries. And 
indeed of one such place of assembly we most likely 
have a record in Steinithing, a name which occurs in 
the Hundred Rolls, and appears to have been connected 
with the parishes of Wyberton and Wigtoft.^ The 
prefix may be the Scandinavian personal name Steini,^ 
but is more likely to commemorate some large stone 
that indicated the place of mxceting. It is remarkable 
that the neighbouring wapentake of Elloe takes its name 
from a large stone,^ to which tradition points as marking 
the spot where former generations met in council. In 
a district which boasts no hills, and where even trees 
were scarce, nothing could be more likely than the 
choice of such a stone for a landmark and other kindred 
purposes. And if, as is possible, Elloe preserves to us 

^ The Rev. J. C. Atkinson was the first to draw attention to this name, 
which occurs in the Memorial of Benefactions to Whitby Abbey (see 
Introd. to Cleveland Glossary, p. xii. ). 

■^ '"Johannes de Hoyland tenet medietatem unius feodi in Steinithing et 
Wyberton." 

^ Or Steinn. 

^ The Elloe or March Stone. March is doubtless only another and very 
familiar form of jitai-k. Accordingly tradition further assigns to this stone 
the character of boundary. D. B., Elloho ; Hundred Rolls, Hellowe ; 
R. C, Hello. The suffix is probably the record of a funeral mound, or 
possibly of some slight natural elevation. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 249 

the Old Norse Jiella, a rock, the name is brought into 
still closer connection with that of Steinithing. 

The tradition that has come down to us in respect of 
Elloe is also associated with the wapentake of Aveland. 
This name was likewise attached, it would appear, to 
a place of meeting ; to quote the words of Sir Charles 
Anderson, " the spot is surrounded by what was a moat. 
Here the sessions were formerly held under an oak tree, 
probably a remnant of Danish or Saxon times, when the 
Thane held his court in open air, as the Althing was, till 
this century, in Iceland ; " ^ in other words it was on this 
spot that the district tJiiiig was held. It is indeed the 
general belief, that many of the county divisions 
throughout England originally derived their names from 
such places of assembly. Thus, in a well-known work, 
we read, " the names of the English hundreds are often 
very curious and significant, guiding us for the most 
part to the spot appointed for the assemblage of the 
heads of households in prehistoric times. These places 
are sometimes important towns and villages, but quite 
as often barrows, dikes, trees, heaths, — conspicuous land- 
marks rather than centres of population." ^ And if we 
examine the names of our Lincolnshire divisions, we 
shall see at once, how large a proportion lends itself to 
this inference. The following wapentakes have received 
their name from some distinct feature, which might very 
well serve for marking a place of assembly ; Aswardhurn 
(Aswardetierne), Gartree, Haverstoe (Havardeshoe), 
Threho (Trehos), Wraggoe (Waraghou), Candleshoe (Cal- 
' Lincoln Pocket Guide, p. 49. - Words and Places, p. 197. 



250 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

nodcshou), Aslacoe (Aslacheschou), Lawress (Lagolfris), 
Elloe (Elloho), Langoe (Langhou), Graffoe (Grafhow), 
Yarborough (Jerdeburgh), Beltisloe (Belteslawe), Aveland 
(Avelunt), Manley (Manelinde), Ness, Walshcroft (Wales- 
cros), Winnibriggs.^ 

We have somewhat overstepped the strict hmits of 
our subject, but, as a fact, we can precisely locaUze so 
few of our wapentakes, that, in a general way, they may 
be reckoned among our lost landmarks. 

The names of the wapentakes are still in common 
use and are perfectly familiar to us. Other names there 
are, which have long been disused and only survive in 
medieval documents, but possess an abiding interest, 
because recalling the features of the country as presented 
to our forefathers, or immortalizing the works of their 
hands. A very small selection must suffice for present 
consideration. 

We should now search in vain for Buskhowestrete, 
but the Hundred Rolls tell us that, in the reign of 
Edward the First, there was a high way (via regia) so- 
called in the wapentake of Luthesk, and that Humfrey 
of Asterby came under the royal displeasure for narrow- 
ing the same.^ The heather may have long since 
disappeared from the parish of Ashby-de-la-Laund, but 

' With almost equal ground of reason we might add to the list Bradley, 
Calcewaith (Calsvad), Bolingbroke, Welle, and Flaxwelle. 

^ " Humfrey de Eystby artavit viam regiam quae voc : Buskhowestrete." 
. This Eystby is no doubt Asterby. This road is also mentioned in a deed 
of Legboume Abbey, circ. 12S0: " Totam terram quae pertinet ad feudum 
meum quee continetur inter Quenildewange in campis de Thathwelle et inter 
regiam viam quae vadit de Bushou, etc." For Buskhowstrete, see also 
Chapter ix. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 25 I 

its memory is preserved by the Linghou ^ of the Hundred 
Rolls, whilst the Laund, by which a later age came to 
distinguish this particular Ashby, may doubtless be re- 
cognized in the Totelaund of another medieval calendar.^ 
One of the most venerable oaks in England is still to 
be seen at Woodthorpe in the Calcewaith division of 
the county, and it is not therefore without interest that, 
in an ancient record,^ we come across the name of 
Egefeld in the adjacent wapentake of Candleshoe. 
Even the beech tree that contributed to the name of 
a single house called Skinnybocke,^ near the Witham, 
has its value for the antiquarian. 

There was once a Ryggesthorpe ^ among the hills 
that rise round Grantham, to correspond with the Rigsby 
that still crowns the first slope of the wold near Alford. 
There was a Dereby near Aslackby, besides the Derby 
that still forms part of Burton Stather. There was, 
apparently in the wapentake of Bolingbroke, and evi- 
dently connected with the waters of the fen, a place 
called Feribay.*^ The name may have been lost long 
before the fens themselves disappeared, but it still 
retains its place in the Hundred Rolls. There it stands, 
to remind us that ferry boats were once as indispensable 
for the mixture of swamp and lake and island that 

* " Linghou in campo de Ashby." 

2 Calend. Rot. Chart. Totelaund is coupled with Bloxham. 

* Inqu. Non. 

* "Una domusqujE vocaturSkinnybocke." (Hundred Rolls.) The first 
part of this name is doubtless the Norse personal name Skinni. Skinn is 
still one of the commonest names in Lincolnshire. 

* Testa de Nevill. 

* Feribay. Cf. North and South Ferriby on the Humber. 



252 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Stretched southward from Bohngbroke, as for the Humber 
waters that separated the Danes of Lindsey from their 
Yorkshire kinsmen. 

Interest of much the same kind attaches to names 
that tell us of houses built and works achieved by men 
whose names, like their labours, have perished. Newbo, 
in the neighbourhood of Grantham, was the site of a 
religious foundation,^ but though the name would 
suggest a comparatively late origin, the county map of 
the present day has no record of it, and the very site 
of the convent is a matter of conjecture. Again, there 
are few places more frequently mentioned in early 
documents than Boby,^ close to Navenby ; yet there 
is not a trace of its exact situation at the present day,^ 
although its memory is kept up in the Longoboby* 
deanery. In the same way, Houstorp, mentioned in the 
Hundred Rolls in conjunction with Querington, Wil- 
loughby, and Ywardby ^ in the wapentake of Asward- 
hurn, has altogether disappeared. We might discuss 

' Newbo, or Newboth, according to Tanner. A PriBmonstratensian 
convent was founded at Newbo, in 119S. With Newbo we may compare 
Nybo, in Denmark, formerly spelt Nubo. 

^ Bo is the Danish form of Old Norse biia, to dwell. The word is both 
a verb and a noun substantive, and is frequently found in Danish place- 
names (see Newbo, supra). The termination boo or Iwiu is not uncommon 
in Scotland, and is the same word (see Jamieson, Scotch Diet. ). 

^ Unless indeed Boby should be the modern Boothby. This is rendered 
not altogether improbable by the fact that, in Denmark, the Old Norse bii^ 
is sometimes represented in modern local names by bo. The present 
Asserbo was written, in 11S6, Aswarthsebothse ; Karlebo was Karlaebothae 
(Madsen, Sjael. Stedn., p. 195) ; so Newbo is also called by Tanner New- 
both. Boothby Graffoe is close to Navenby. 

■• Longoboby appears to be the combination of Boby with the name 
of the adjacent wapentake, Langoe. * i.e. Ewerby. 



* LOST LANDMARKS. 253 

many other names of a similar kind, names that may be 

traced to the era of the Danish settlement, but now lie 

buried in the Hundred Rolls and other unfamiliar folios. 

Sometimes as we run the eye over a list of forgotten 

place-names in these medieval records, words that have 

been disused for centuries reappear like the ghosts of 

their former selves. Here, for instance, is Wramilna.^ 

The Lincolnshire rustic would stare vacantly, if asked to 

explain such a term, yet the time was when any son 

of the soil would have told you that it meant the Mill 

at the Corner. You must go to Denmark now to find 

the word vraa in use. There you will frequently meet 

with it in local names, as in Vraa, Vraaby, Livsteens 

Vraa.^ So too, in England generally, it must at one time 

have been a word of everyday use, if we may trust the 

evidence of a great number of place-names in various 

parts of the country.^ In Scotland the word wra, in 

the sense of hiding-place, lingered certainly until the 

middle of the sixteenth century ; ^ in England it had 

probably died out at an earlier period. 

' The name occurs in a deed connected with Alvingham Priory ; date, 
Stephen's reign, towards close. (Dugdale, Mon. Angl., vol. vi. p. 958.) 
*' Molendinium quod vocatur vulgo Wramilna." Mihia is genuine Old 
Norse ; Old Norse viylna, Anglo-Saxon miln, a mill. 

* Madsen, Sjael. Stedn., p. 255. 

* e.g. Wray, Wray Beck, Wray Bridge ; perhaps Raby. The modern 
Danish v7-aa is the Old Norse rd. Wrawby might very well be from vraa, 
but the D. B. Waragebi and Wirchebi make such a derivation veiy ques- 
tionable (see Chapter xi.). The word ivra or wrae is very common in 
medieval documents connected with Lincolnshire. West Feriwra was in 
the neighbourhood of Revesby. "In Sudhenges novem acras in duobus 
locis scilicet quae vocantur wraes " (ancient deed of Philip of Kime. See 
Dugdale, Mon. Angl, vol. vi., p. 953). Akewra (Inqu. Non. ). 

* Wra is used by Douglas, 15 13 (see Jamieson's Scotch Diet.). 



2 54 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Here again is Crakbeke ^ in Hallington near Louth. 
On tlie north side of the Humber a scarecrow is still 
called a fla-crake^ as it probably was a thousand years 
ago, but, in Lincolnshire, the Scandinavian krdka has been 
banished by the English croiv. Crakbeke may, perhaps, 
be identified with the stream that takes its rise from 
Tathwell springs, and, after watering the pastures of 
Raithby and Halington, adds to the charms of Hubbards 
Hills, and then joins the Welton Beck to form the River 
Lud. The name may serve to remind us that the rookery 
was as familiar a feature in an English landscape in the 
days of our forefathers as in our own time, and that the 
untuneful note, which no one admires but every one loves, 
was as natural to their ears as to our own. 

Hestcroft was a spot in Legbourne parish for which 
we should probably look in vain ; and Jicst is a word with 
which we should certainly now fail to meet in any part 
of the county. Yet it was once perhaps more natural 

* " In Halington sedem molendini in loco qui dicitur Crak beke." 
(Deed, circ. 12S0, connected with Legbourne Priory. Dugdale, Men. 
Angl.) 

^ Holderness Glossary, E. D. S., 1877, Triibner ; and ci. Jlay-crow, 
flay-cruke (CI. GL). For the first syllable Mr. Atkinson (CI. Gl.) gives 
Sw. T)., _fld, to drive forth precipitately, which may well be identical in 
origin with N. Y.. flay, or fla, to terrify; Scotch yfrj/, to put to flight. 
Mr. Atkinson, however, derives flay directly from Old Norse flcefa, to 
put to flight, to terrify ; and in this 'he is followed by the Holderness 
Glossary; but, according to CI. and Vigf. 'D\ci.,flceja, to flee, will not 
bear this sense {%te flyja). Fleygja, the causal oifljiiga, to fly [volare), can 
hardly account for flay, since it does not mean to /nake fly, but to let fly, 
throw. In Scotland the wordyf^j appears to have special reference to the 
scaring of birds ; cf. : 

"John quenched the fires, and fley'd, like rooks. 
The boys avva'." 

Mayne's Siller Gun (see Jamieson). 



LOST LANDMARKS. 255 

to speak of a hest-croft'^ than of a horse-croft ; and hest'^ 
must be one of the many words introduced by the Danes, 
but subsequently replaced by their English equivalents. 
Hestcroft may be matched with Hestehave,^ a very 
common local name in Denmark, while Hestfell, Hest- 
holm, and Hestbank, in the Lake District, show that the 
Scandinavians introduced the word to other districts of 
England. 

In a deed of 1280 connected with the Abbey of 
Hagnaby, near Alford, we read of a place called Fugles- 
torpe,^ and as it is mentioned in connection with 
Hannay, Beesby and Trusthorpe, we may infer that it 
was in their immediate neighbourhood. By 1360 the 
name had become Foulsthorp,^ illustrating the con- 
traction of Anglo-Saxon fugel, Old Norse fugl into 
English foivl^ As, in the deeds of dissolution {temp. 
Henry VIII.) there is no notice of Foulsthorp, it is 
possible that Fuglestorp was one of the villages which 

' Anglo-Saxon croft, a field. With Hestcroft we may compare hesta- 
garSr, a horse-pen close to a churchyard, wherein the horses of the 
worshippers are kept during divine service ; cf. also hest-Jnis. (CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.) 

- Old Norse hcstr ; in ancient writers usually a stallion, which may 
possibly be the meaning in Jiest-croft. Hross (English horse) was the 
ordinary word for a horse. It is possible that a peculiarly shaped sand- 
bank known as Ross Sand, off the Lincolnshire coast, received its name 
from Old Norse /^;-<?w; there is a Dog head sand-bank further south. There 
is a Walter Hest in the Inqu. Non. for Lincolnshire. 

' Horse pasture (see Madsen, Sjnel. Stedn., p. 274). 

■* " De tribus carucatis terras in Hagneby et Fuglestorpe." (Dugdale, 
Mon. Angl., vol. vi. p. 891.) 

^ " Tenementis in Haghneby, Hannay, Beseby, Trusthorp, Foulsthorp." 
(Dugdale, Mon. Angl., vol. vi. p. 891.) 

® So Fulstow was formerly Fugelstow. 



256 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

fell a prey to the sea, and that fishermen now spread 
their nets where their fathers decoyed the wild fowl that 
frequented the coast.-^ 

Once more, take the name of Hulvergate. If the 
name survives, which is extremely doubtful, it certainly 
conveys to most persons no suggestion of its meaning 
or origin ; yet a few centuries ago, kuher was a word in 
ordinary use, which had found its way from the Old 
Norse into the English tongue. Hulvergate^ appears to 
have been in the neighbourhood of Stamford (possibly was 
a street in that town), and took its name from the holly 
trees that flourished on the spot.^ The word hulver has 
long been obsolete, but Chaucer * could use it without 

' Cf. Fugleberg and Fuglede in Denmark. (Madsen, Sjcel. Stedn., p. 
276.) At the same time it is possible that both Fuglestorp and Fugelstow 
may have been named after a man, Fugel being a proper name. There is 
a Fugglestone in Wiltshire. The surname Fuggler is still to be met with. 

^ Hulvergate is mentioned in the founder's charter of Newstede Priory, 
near Stamford ; founded early in the reign of Henry III. " Hulvergate, 
Peselond, Wetelond, Prestewong. " (Dugdale, Mon. Angl., vol. vi. p. 
562.) 

^ I have followed Stratmann in the derivation of Old English hulver ; 
' ^ Jiulvir irora Icelandic hidfr, hulver, ilex, Prompt. Parv., p. 253 ; hulfere 
(dat.), Chaucer, C. B. K., p. 129." Skinner suggested two derivations, 
either English hold and Anglo-Saxonyrw (far, in the sense of long), because 
the holly is a plant that lasts long ; or, hold-fair, because a tree that 
retains the beauty or fairness of its leaves the whole year round. These are 
manifestly wrong. Prior, in his Popular Names of British Plants, 3rd edit., 
derives from French olivier, olive tree, a name given to the holly from 
its being strewn on the road, in the place of olive branches, at the public 
festivals of the Church. Britten, Plant Names, E. D. S., simply says, 
hulver — Ilex Aquifolium ; Anglo-Saxon hulfere, Chaucer. The holly 
tree was planted in former times as a counter-charm against evil spells. 
(Holland, Plinie, book xxiv. c. 13). 

' " Betwixt an hulfere and a woodhende 

As I was ware, I sawe where lay a man." 

Complaint of Black Knight. 



LOST LANDMARKS. 257 

fear of puzzling his readers, and when the Hundred Rolls 
were compiled, a shaggy, bristly-haired individual might 
be dubbed Hulverhead ^ by his comrades. Huh'er\ 
however, was not a word which could claim English birth, 
and only took its place in our language for a time as a 
denizen from the North, being the Anglicized form of 
Old Norse hulfr? 

It is probable that these lost landmarks possess 
interest for very few ; but those few find themselves 
brought, by such names, into sympathy with generations 
that have passed away, and into contact with conditions 
of life and circumstances, of which the little that we know, 
makes us long to know more. Old Mortality has his 
representatives in every age, and while one of his 
followers may trace forgotten names on crumbling stone, 
another collects notices of lost localities from musty 
volumes, which teem with connecting links between the 
dim past and the familiar present. The names that have 
filled this chapter belong, for the most part, to the past 
alone, but we cannot forget that those who gave the 
names have contributed their share to history, and, there- 
fore, belong to the present as well as to the past. 

^ Wills Hulverenheved, Hundred Rolls for Lincolnshire. Old Norse 
hulfr — dog-wood, or ebony, so that there might have been an allusion to 
hardness, or possibly blackness, in this nickname. 

- The chapelry of Hulverstreet is attached to the parish of Henstead in 
Suffolk ; there is also a Hulver Farm in Norfolk. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 

"And who in lime knows whither we may vent 

The treasure of our tongue ? to what strange shores 
This gain of our best glory shall be sent 

T'enrich unknowing nations with our stores ? 
What worlds in th' yet unformed Occident 

May come refined with th' accents that are ours ? " 

jMiisophilus, S. Daniel. 

It is still an open question, how far the Old Danish 
language modified the German dialects that had pre- 
vailed in Danelagh for centuries before the incursions of 
the Northmen. An open question it is likely long to 
remain, for the exact balance between the component 
parts of the English tongue, with its many dialectical 
varieties, could only be struck by means of an accurate 
knowledge, not merely of Saxon, Anglian and Old 
Danish, but also of the dialects used by Frisians, Hol- 
satians, Hanoverians, Westphalians and other branches 
of the great German family. 

It is very important to bear in mind that the Anglian 
tongue, which became the speech of Northern England 
and the South of Scotland in the sixth century,^ formed, 

' The principal settlement of the Angles was effected by Ida, A.D. 547, 
hut Lincolnshire received its Angle population most probably at a some- 



THE LANGUAGE OI' LINCOLNSHIRE. 259 

like the Frisian, a connecting link between the Old 
Norse and Old German.^ It therefore follows that many- 
words, which, at first sight, appear to be Danish, may- 
have been in common use through a large part of 
Britain long before the Danes arrived ; and it must not 
for a moment be supposed that, because a provincialism 
is represented in the language spoken by the ancient 
Northmen, that therefore they must have the credit of 
introducing it into Britain. As a matter of fact, a very 
large proportion of the words that distinguish the speech 
■of Lincolnshire, and Northern England generally, from 
that of the South and West, is to be found also in the 
South of Scotland ; yet Dr. Murray holds that in Scot- 
land and Northumberland the Danish influence was at 
its minimum.^ He maintains that the language spoken in 
those parts is, in all essential features, Anglian, and that 
although the Danes considerably added to and altered 

what earlier period (see for the Anglian settlements, Donaldson's English 

Ethnography ; Cambridge Essays, 1856 ; J. R. Green, Making of England). 
* See J. A. H. Murray, Dialect of Southern Counties of Scotland, pp. 

5, 16, 24, 25 ; see also his article on the English Language in the Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica, 1877 5 see also Latham, The English Language, p. 416, 

5th edit. ; and Donaldson, Old English Ethnography, Cambridge Essays, 

1856. 

- With Northumberland and the Lowlands Dr. Murray (p. 25) contrasts 
the districts of Cleveland, Whitby, Lonsdale, Furness, and parts of Cumber- 
land, where the language was more radically influenced by the Old Norse.. 
If, however, Dr. Jamieson's conclusions are in the main correct, the intro- 
duction of Norse words into the language of Scotland was very large. Sir 
G. W. Dasent also appears to demand a considerably greater influence for 
the Norse language in Scotland than Dr. Murray would be inclined to 
allow. " Of all the kindred tongues, English, and that form of English 
which is called Lowland Scotch, has remained nearest in form, feeling, and 
often in vocabulary, to the Icelandic " (Introduction to CI. and Vigf. Diet., 
p. li.). 



260 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

the vocabulary, they exercised little influence upon the 
grammar. Perhaps what Dr. Murray has said of the 
South of Scotland may be said of Northern Lincolnshire. 
The vocabularies of these two districts correspond with 
one another in a way that would attract the notice of 
the least observant ; and although the Dane exercised 
a far more powerful and permanent influence upon the 
history of Lindsey, than upon that of the Lothians, there 
is probably little reason to suppose that the essentially 
English character of the language was ever, to any great 
extent, lost in any part of Lincolnshire. 

At the same time it would be strange indeed, if the 
language of the people bore no trace of an event, so 
important in the history of the county as its conquest 
and occupation by the Northmen. And that it does 
so is beyond all doubt, although an imperfect knowledge 
of the tongue that the Angle brought to Britain, renders 
it difficult to assign, with any degree of certainty, many 
of our surviving provincialisms to one race rather than 
the other. There will be no rash attempt in the 
following remarks to distinguish with nicety between 
the Anglian and Danish elements in our present 
Lincolnshire dialect, and the sole object of this chapter 
is to show that the language, like the nomenclature, of 
the county supplies many connecting links with the 
ancient Norsemen. 

It will be well to start with a full recognition of the 
fact that large districts of the county must have been 
at one time, to a very considerable extent, peopled by 
the Danes. The neighbourhoods of Spilsby and Caistor,. 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 261 

to which may be added those of Grimsby and Torksey, 
bear witness by their place-names to the complete 
conquest and a general, though not exclusive, settlement 
effected by the Danes. And it may be felt that this 
overwhelming proportion of Danish names supplies a 
very strong argument for believing that, in these parts 
at least, the Norseman's tongue was spoken for some 
time after their occupation by the vikings. It may 
have been, and probably was so ; at the same time it is 
not likely that the Old Norse ever became the permanent 
language of any part of Lincolnshire. It is, on the 
contrary, probable that the Norsemen were not long in 
adopting the language, as they accepted the religion, of 
the conquered race.-^ At the same time we may be sure 
that it would be impossible for the colonizing Danes 
to mix with their English neighbours, acquire their habits 
and learn their language, without imparting, in their 
turn, something of their own distinctive life, and adding 
a permanent element to the speech of the Anglo-Saxon 
race.^ 

Taking, indeed, the county as a whole, it may well be 
doubted whether, at any time, the Northmen formed a 

' Sir Francis Palgrave, however, maintains that the Danish colonists 
unquestionably retained their language in England for a lengthened period, 
and in this respect formed a marked contrast to the Northmen who settled 
in France. (History of Normandy and England, vol. i. p. 700.) 

* The metrical Scripture paraphrase of Orm, known as Ormulum, 
written, about 1200, in Lincolnshire, or Nottinghamshire (or, according to 
some, in Lancashire), shows for the first time in English literature a large 
per centage of Scandinavian words, derived from the Danish settlers, who, 
in adopting English, had preserved a vast number of their ancestral forms 
of speech. (English Language, Encydopccdia Briiannica. ) 



262 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

majority of the population, and we may, perhaps with 
some shght modification, apply to Lincolnshire what has 
been said of other Scandinavian settlements : " The con- 
querors, a mere handful amongst the great mass of the 
population, after leavening it with the best particles of 
their nature and infusing new life into the community, 
take to themselves the features and language of the sub- 
ject race, until, after a separate existence, determined in 
its duration by the peculiar circumstances of each case, 
a new language and nationality arc formed, in which the 
characteristics of the captives are predominant/'^ Whilst 
then it may be quite true that the Danish tongue never, 
to any great extent, or for any considerable time, super- 
seded that which had been spoken in Lincolnshire for 
more than three hundred years, it was natural that the 
presence of the Dane should lead to important modifi- 
cations, by altering, as well as adding to, the general 
vocabulary.'-^ That such ^^•as the case may be shown on 
various grounds, which shall be noticed in order. 

I. The ordinary language used by the children of the 

' Sir G. \V. Dasent, Introduction to Burnt Njal, p. clxxxiv. ; see also 
Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vol. i. pp. 198-201 ; also J. R. 
Green, History of the English People, vol. i. pp. 87, 88. 

■-' Mr. Skcat, in his Etym. Diet., 1882, speaking of the Old Danish 
introduced into England, says: "Instead of its appearing strange that 
English words should be borrowed from Icelandic, it must be remembered 
that this name (i.e. Icelandic) represents, for philological purposes, the 
language of those Northmen, who, settling in England, became ancestors 
of some of the very best men amongst us ; and as they settled chiefly in 
Northumbria and East Anglia, parts of England not strictly represented by 
Anglo-Saxon, ' Icelandic,' or Old Norse (as it is also called), has come to 
be, it may be almost said, English of the English." (Brief Notes on Lan- 
guages cited, p. XV.) 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 263 

soil contains a large percentage of words that have their 
counterpart in Old Norse, and may be more easily and 
naturally traced to Danish than to any other parentage. 
Many of these words relate to the occupations of daily 
life, and the commonest objects of everyday use. Let us, 
for example, take the surroundings and appurtenances of 
the farm-yard. 

The garthman ^ himself, by his very title, seems to 
bear witness to Danish predecessors in his office; His 
work lies to a great extent in the creivc-yard^ where he 
will be proud to show you, amongst other live-stock, the 
stots^ and quccs^ of the establishment. As you turn 
from the crewe you may pass the midden '' and the stag- 
garth^ and should you follow him to his home of stoiir'^ 
and daub, covered, it may be, with startJuick^ you may 
hear his bairns'^ ask after the cusJi-cows}^ If, however, 
we linger near the farm buildings, we may catch many 
other words that carry us back to the Norsemen of old, 
or over the sea to their descendants in Denmark. The 
farm lads will talk to you of the cletch^^ of chickens by the 

* Garthman, Icelandic gai^r. For more detailed account of these 
words, see the Glossary. 

- Crezvc ; Danish kro, inn ; Icelandic kro, a pea, a fold. 
' Stot, a steer ; Icelandic sti'ttr, a bull. 



I 



* Quee, female calf; Icelandic Z'Z'/^«. /i 

* Midden, dung-heap ; Danish vioddiug. 

* Staggarth, stack-yard; Icelandic ^Az/'/t-^a/'Sr. 
" Stoiir, post ; Icelandic stanrr, a stake. 

* Starthack, coarse grass, used for thatching ; Icelandic siorr, Danish 
star. 

^ Icelandic and Danish barn. 

*" Cf. Icelandic Kzissa, a cow ; '■' kus, kits," is the milkmaid's call. 

*' Clctch, brood ; Icelandic kickja, to hatch. 



264 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

henstee ^ or feeding at the lathe ^ door ; he will call your 
attention to the calves blethering'^ in the meadow, or 
show you the kittlings^ Hggi^ig^ on the secks^ or playing 
in the heek? 

The cottage, like the farm-yard, is full of these 
Scandinavian relics. The housewife herself is a heppen^ 
sort of body. She addles^ many a shilling besides what 
she saves by good management. If she is not throng'^^ 
with work, and her bairns 2sq not bealiiig^^ diwd yammer- 
111^"^ round her, she will be ready to show you her 
household treasures. She will gladly cut you a slice 
from the bread-loaf ^^ she makes herself, and perhaps 
ask you to taste the cakes she has baked on her own 
bakston}^ and to this she will generously add a slice from 
t\\ejlick ^^ that hangs from the raff}^ Here is the peck- 
skep ^^ in which she measures her potatoes and apples, 
there is the soa^'^ in which she keeps the milk, and 

* Henstee ; Icelandic stigi, a ladder. 

'^ Lathe ; a barn (obsolescent) ; Icelandic hlaSa, bum. 

* Icelandic hla&ra, to bleat. 

* Kittens ; Icelandic ketlingr, 
' Icelandic tiggja. 

* Icelandic sckk?; Danish seek. 

' Rack for fodder ; Danish kiek. 

8 Handy ; Icelandic hcppi)i, lucky. 

" Earns ; Icelandic l^Slask, to gain as property. 

'" Crowded, overwhelmed ; Icelandic yrbngr, tight, crowded. 

" Beat, to shout ; Icelandic belja, to bellow. 

*- Yammer, to clamour ; Icelandic /arwr, bleating. 

'' Icelandic hraii'S-hlcifr. 

" Bakston, an iron plate for cooking muffins, etc. ; Icelandic bakstrjarn. 

'* Flitch ; Icelandicy^/M/. 

'" Rafter ; Icelandic 7-df, a roof. 

' ' A measure ; Icelandic skeppa, a bushel measure. 

'* .S'^^, or soe, a pail ; Icelandic sd]\ a cask ; Danish saa, a pail. 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 265 

yonder the sile'^ through which she teems '^ it. Here is 
her meal-ark;^ dind'X\\Qvc, gainhand,^ is the kist''^ in which 
she keeps the eldin!^ 

Then if you should chance to come across the 
shepherd we may find him cleddiug'^ the tmys^ against 
lambing time, because at the fore-end^ of the year the 
winds are often Jiask ^° and snyde}^ Among his flock he 
may draw your attention to the well-conditioned 
giuibersy^ He will tell you how many sheep were lost 
last summer through farivelting}'^ how much his master 
zvared'^^ in cake, and how many tod'^^^ of wool were 
produced by last year's clip}^ If you go further afield 
you will find the same curious survivals. The gare^"^ at 
the head of the field, IhQ Jleaks ^^ in the gapsteads}^ the 
vioudiwarps'^ impaled upon the blackthorn, thegatrum''^^ 

' Si/c, a milk-strainer ; Danish si and ^7'/, a strainer ; Icelandic sza, » 
strainer. 

- Pours ; Icelandic tccitia, to empty. 
^ Icelandic brk, Danish ark, chest. 

* Icelandic gegn and gagn. 

■' Chest ; Icelandic kista, Anglo-Saxon kist. 
" Fuel, Icelandic elding, fuel. 
' Icelandic kLc^a, to clothe. 

* Hurdles ; Icelandic trii^. 

* Daxnsh. forende. '" Or ask, Icelandic heskr, harsh. 
" Cutting; Icelandic j«<?/^ff, to cut. 

^- Or gimmer ; Icelandic gyinbr, an ewe lamb of a year old. 

'•^ Overthrown ; Icelandic velta, to roll over. 

'^ Spent ; Icelandic verja, to invest. 

'^ A tod = 28 lbs. ; Icelandic toddi, a tod of wool. 

'" Icelandic Idippa, Danish Idippe. 

'' A triangular patch (see Glossary) ; Icelandic geiri, same meaning. , 

'* Or flake, a fence-hurdle ; Icelandic _/?rt/^/, hurdle. 7 <at— -/ 

'^ Gapstcad, a gap in a hedge or fence ; Icelandic gap, opening. %/ 

^^ Moles ; Icelandic niold-varpa. ■ ^_y 

*' A narrow way ; Icelandic gata, a passage. 



266 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

that leads from the road into the close, the cattlc-rake'^ 
upon the moor, the screed'^ of grass land that borders, 
the beck^ on this side, and theri-rr* that stretches beyond 
it on the other ; these and many other objects, by the 
names attached to them, most likely bear witness to the 
influence of the Northman upon our provincial tongue.''' 

A glance at the appended glossary will show that 
a very large number of similar affinities to the Old Norse 
may be found in every part of speech and in every 
department of life. Some of these peculiarities were no 
doubt common to Angle and Dane. Some, however, 
can be assigned with certainty to the Norseman, and 
many others may be traced with more probability to 
a Scandinavian than to any other source. 

The Danish element is moreover emphasized, and 
its presence made the clearer, by the marked difference 
between the respective dialects of North and South 
Lincolnshire ; a distinction all the more significant, 
when we find it recognized even by the people them- 
selves.'' The river Witham, which almost bisects the 



' Rake = right of pasture ; Icelandic rcika, to wander. 

* See Cleveland Glossary, p. 431. 

' Icelandic bekkr. ■• Swamp ; Icelandic kjarr. 

* Most likely a careful search into old records might, in many instances, 
reveal a former mode of spelling, closer to an Old Norse original than that 
which prevails at present. Thus festyng penny is an older form i\-\:y\\ fasten 
penny {lce\M-\A\cfesfarpcnniugr),feigh \\-\:^nfcy {lce\a.n<.\ic frcgj a). 

° The natives of South Lincolnshire, or rather of the fen district, are 
regarded by those of North Lincolnshire as an almost distinct race, and are 
called by the uncomphmentary name of "yellow-bellies" ; and that the differ- 
ence in their respective dialects is fully understood, may be shown by the 
following authentic statement from Mr. Peacock's Glossary : " He's a real 
yallow-belly ; you may tell it by his tongue" (M. and C. Gl., p. 278). 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 26/ 

county, is regarded as a line of demarcation between two 
very distinct dialects.^ • But in order to arrive at any 
just conclusion, it must be remembered that a great part 
of England south of this boundary was peopled by the 
Angles, and, although afterwards included in the Dane- 
lagh, was not, except in limited districts, subjected, 
equally with Northern Lincolnshire, to the influence of 
a Danish population. Here, then, we should expect a 
provincial dialect more closely related to the language 
that the Angles brought with them than to any other ; 
and probably so it is. But taking the fen country of 
Lincolnshire as representing an Anglian dialect, a 
comparison would show a great many provincialisms 
still used in North Lincolnshire, which must be ac- 
counted for by other than Anglian influences. And 
further, while the Witham, to speak generally, forms 
a boundary between two separate dialects, there is no 
such distinction to be observed between the districts 
North and South of the Humber. The provincialisms 
of North Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire are essentially 
the same ; ^ and these are the very parts in which the 
Danes first and most generally made themselves felt. 

While, however, the study of a more southern dialect 
thus suggests a strong infusion of Old Norse into that 
of Northern Lincolnshire, a visit to Cleveland, in the 
north-east of Yorkshire, will show how improbable it 
is that the Northmen, to any great extent, substituted 

* J. O. Halliwell, Diet. Archaic and Piov. Words, Introd. p. xxiii. 

^ A comparison between the JNIanley and Corringham Glossary, com- 
piled by Mr. Peacock, and the Holderness Glossary, by Messrs. Ross, 
Stead and Holderness, will make this abundantly clear. 



268 - LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

their own' language for that which they found in our 
county. In Cleveland we reach a district, where the 
Danes have done more to mould the language of the 
people than perhaps in any other part of Britain. 
The resemblance of the Cleveland dialect to the ancient 
language of Scandinavia has been shown, with much 
care and ability, by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, who main- 
tains that the present speech of that part of Yorkshire 
bears a closer relationship, both in its structure and 
vocabulary, to the language of Jutland than to any 
other.^ Mr. Atkinson is led to the conclusion that 
where the Cleveland dialect diverges from ordinary 
English, it is indebted to the Scandinavians for at least 
sixty per cent, of such peculiarities ; ^ and at the same 
time he points out that a very large number of Danish 
words have become obsolete, without leaving any record 
of their former existence. 

This tendency to disuse must of course, in like 
manner, be borne in mind, when dealing with Lincoln- 
shire. It is indeed probable that even a larger number 
of archaisms may have become obsolete in our county 
than in Cleveland, inasmuch as the sequestered dales of 

' (Jn the remarkalile resemblance also between the provmcialisms of 
Cleveland and those of Sweden, see Atkinson's Glossary of Cleveland, 
Introd., p. xxxviii. This resemblance does not in any way clash with the 
view that Cleveland was colonized by the Danes, for it is well known that 
the Swedes have preserved the Old Norse more intact than it is found in 
any other part of continental Scandinavia (see Sir G. W. Dasent's Introd. 
to CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. li.). 

" Mr. Ferguson, who has, to some extent, done for the Cumberland, 
what Mr. Atkinson has for the Cleveland, dialect, is evidently inclined to 
think that this is somewhat beyond the truth. (Dialect of Cumberland, pp. 
219, 220.) 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 269 

the East Riding are far more favourable to their sur- 
vival than the open country with which we are familiar ; 
and it follows that the Old Danish words, which it may 
be now possible to collect, must very inadequately 
represent the total number originally introduced into 
Lincolnshire.^ Yet it may be safely maintained, that 
the dialect of this county gives no evidence of ever 
having contained so large and important a Scandinavian 
element, as appears in the Cleveland dialect, and a 
comparison of the two strongly supports the view here 
maintained. Not only is the proportion of Lincolnshire 
words that point to a Norse parentage much smaller 
than that which is found in Cleveland, but the gram- 
matical structure of our dialect, unlike that of the other, 
shows no such approximation to the Old Danish, as to 
suggest direct descent from it. On the whole, then, to 
judge from the dialect itself, we should conclude that 
while the Anglian tongue was never supplanted by the 
Danish in our own county, as seems to have been the 
case in the neighbourhood of Whitby, it was nevertheless 
enriched with a very large body of Norse words, of 
which a considerable number may be heard to this day. 

2. One of the most interesting proofs of the influence 
exercised by the Danish settlers upon the language they 
found, and which, in its general features, they very soon 
adopted as their own, is supplied by the place-names, 
which have been the subject of the foregoing pages. 
When, for example, we find the word gate substituted 
for street and road, when we obsei"ve that the streams are 

' See this illustrated below from surnames, both ancient and modern. 



270 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

becks, — meadows bordering on the sc2i, fifties, — landing- 
places, staithes and stathers, — we feel fairly confident that, 
in such cases, the Anglian language has been supplanted 
by Old Norse. When, again, we speak of barfs and cars 
and Jiesscs ; when, in looking over the map, we come 
across such names as Stackgarth, Yarlesgate, Bratlands ; 
where we find that levels are known as sleights, hills 
as Jioivs or nabs, fords as ivaths, it is hard to resist the 
conclusion, that we are moving amid scenes once peopled 
by a Scandinavian race. 

In some few instances at least, the local names bear 
witness to the survival of common Norse words, now 
obsolete, long after the period of Danish settlement. 
Thus the qualifying epithet of Mavis ^ was possibly 
not added, until long after the Domesday Survey, to 
the village of Enderby. The original Scalleby became, 
certainly as late as the fourteenth century, the present 
Scavvby,'-^ and such a change can best be explained by 
the fact, that sca^v was a word then still in use, and 
harmonized with the natural features of the locality.^ 
Asrain. there is reason to believe that the Holtham 
of Domesday Book has passed through Hagham of 
the Hundred Rolls into our modern Haugham. The 
copses, from which the village originally took its name, 
gradually disappeared,^ but the burial mounds, that still 

* See Chapter vii. 

' For remarks on this name, see Chapter viii. 

^ Some of the most luxuriant woods in the county are still to be found 
in the neighbourhood of Scawby. Sanv, Icel. shSgr, Dan. skov. 

* The woods, which still clothe the lower slopes of the wold about 
Muckton, Burwell and Cawthorpe, begin within a short distance of the 
village of Haugham. 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRK. 2/1 

mark the spot, were always conspicuous, and it was 
natural enough (assuming that Jiaiigh was a word in 
general use), that Holtham should become Ilaugham. 
Another instance of the same kind may be found in 
Barkwith. This name appears to have replaced, at a 
comparatively late period, the earlier Barkworth ; and 
it will be seen at once that the later suffix not only 
proves the long surviving use of the Old Norse with, 
but also suggests the probable ^ existence, at no very 
remote time, of birch woods in that part of Lincolnshire.^ 

3. The surnames of the county, both ancient and 
modern, supply a further source of information on the 
question before us, and one that might yield valuable 
results, if carefully worked. Whether we turn over the 
pages of the modern directory, or examine the folios 
that stand upon the shelves of the Record Office, we are 
confronted with Old Norse words no longer in use, and 
which therefore confirm the view that our Danish voca- 
bulary was once far richer than it now is. 

If, for example, we run the eye over the pages of 
such documents of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies as the Hundred Rolls and the Inquisitio Nonarum, 
we see at once that, among many names that bespeak 
the use of Norman-French and English, there are some 
at least that indicate the Danish element in the lan- 

' Probable, not certain, for the first syllable may have had no reference 
to the birch tree ; nor would it be surprising to learn that the change of 
worth into ivith was purely arbitrary. 

" Barkwith is brought into still closer contact with the Danes by the 
occurrence of the form (Barkeved, Johannes de Barkeved) ; cf. the present 
Stensved in Denmark, representing the Stenswith of Lib. Cens. Dan. 



2/2 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

guage spoken at that period. Thus, in a h'st of citizens 
taken at Lincohi towards the middle of the fourteenth 
century, we come upon a curious mixture of Old Norse 
and Anglo-Saxon, — some of the names being examples 
of purest English, others of Old Norse hardly less pure. 
In company with Souters,^ Fy^lielers, Waterleders, 
Dulls and Cokheveds, we find Skegges,^ and Tokes^ and 
Gamills,^ Strakurs,^ Belgers,^' and Munnes.' We are 
still understood if we talk of souters, fiddlers, water- 
leaders ; dull is still a common term of reproach, and 
cockshead is an intelligible alternative for coxcomb ; 
but, on the other hand, men now wear beards, not 
skeggs ; simpletons and vagabonds arc no longer known 
as tokcs and strakins ; leanness does not now provoke 
the soubriquet of helgcr, nor a big mouth that of Mttmiy 
while gauiill has long ceased to denote the venerable 
estate of old age. In 1340 these words were evidently 
in everyday use, and may be taken as a fair sample of 

' Souter is still the common word for shoemaker in Scotland, as it once 
was in England ; Anglo-Saxon sutcrc, Lat. sutor. 

- Old Norse s/,rgg; beard ; Danish s/mj^. Skeggi was a \ery common 
personal name amongst the Northmen. 

^ To/ci, a simpleton ; hence a common surname, or more properly per- 
haps, in its origin, a nickname amongst the ancient Danes ; whence modern 
Danish Tyge and latinized Tycho (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Toke and 
Tock are still very common names in Lincolnshire. Tol'ic survives in 
the North of Scotland, as a fondling term for a child. 

* Old Norse gainall = old, a frequent name or nickname amongst the 
Northmen. It may be doubtless identified with our Gamble; cf. Gam- 
blesby, Westmoreland. 

'" Old Norse sfnih-, a vagabond, a landlouper, idle fellow. 

" Old Norse bclgr, the skin ; but the word was often used to denote a 
withered looking old man (see CI. and Vigf. Diet. ). 

' Old Norse nninur, a mouth ; occurs as a nickname in Landnamabok 
and in Ann. Isl. Mitnn is still a name found in Lincolnshire. 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 273 

a large number of Norse words that have long been 
obsolete.^ 

Turning for a moment to our modern directories, it 
is certain that from them a considerable list of names 
might be made, representing Old Danish words at one 
time, though now no longer, used in the county.^ For, 
in dealing with such names, it must always be remem- 
bered that hereditary surnames did not become general 
until the fourteenth century at the earliest ; and if, in 
our present directory, we are confronted by pure Norse 
words, it is only reasonable to suppose that they were in 
common use, when our English surnames first gained 
their fixity by becoming hereditary. We may then 
assume that it would be possible to trace back to the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the greater number of 
surnames with which we are familiar ; and when we 
find that amongst these there is an appreciable number 
of old Danish words, unaltered by the lapse of time, or 
veiled in the thinnest possible disguise, we have another 
proof, if one were needed, that our Norse vocabulary 
was once much richer than it is at the present time. 
Our Spurrs,^ our Onns,^ our Hurleys,^ our Odlings,'' our 

' 'Many other examples illustrating this particular point are noticed in 
Appendix III., which will also be found to contain a great number of 
genuine Old Norse names, such as Arnald, Gunne, Eysteinn. 

* An attempt has been made in Appendix III. to give a list of names, 
which, some with more, some with less probability, may be traced to 
Danish sources. 

^ Old Norse sporr, sparrow ; Danish spurv. Sp'drr is found as a nick- 
name in Landnamabok. For further information see Appendix III. 

* Old Norse bnn, work, business ; found as a pergonal name in the 
Landnamabok. « Old Norse hyrligr, sweet, smiling. 

* Old Norse odlingr, kind, gentle. The name Odelin is found in York- 
shire in very early records. 

T 



2/4 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Raineys/ our Orrys,^ our Skills ^ and Craggs,^ our Mees ^ 
and Lills^ and Buggs,'' enshrine some few at least of 
these obsolete words and preserve them from complete 
oblivion. With such names we are familiar ; they meet 
the eye as we walk through a Lincolnshire town, or 
glance at a provincial paper. Thus our very shop fronts 
are amongst the links that connect the times we live in 
with the age and presence of the viking ; every day, as 
such names are bandied from lip to lip, we are uncon- 
sciously using Old Norse words, which for centuries 
have had no meaning for English ears. 

The conclusion then to which we come, and which 
several converging lines of evidence support, is that, 
while there is little ground for supposing Old Danish to 
have been at one time the language of Lincolnshire, 
there must have been a very large Scandinavian element 
(far larger than at the present day), in the dialect of the 

' Old Norse hrani, blusterer. But there are several proper names that 
may be the original of our Rainey ; Ranig, Ranveig, Ragnild, etc. ; but, 
Hrani occurs as a proper name in St. S. 

^ Old Norse or7-i, heath fowl ; used as a nickname by the Northmen. 
But of course Orry may be the vulgarized descendant of Hurry ; and this 
is made somewhat more probable by the fact that this name is found in 
the form of Uny as well as Orry. 

* Old Norse skilja, to understand ; cf. Old English to skill, a word still 
used in Cleveland. 

* Danish krage, Old Norse krdka, a crow. 

^ Old Norse my, a gnat ; Anglo-Saxon micg. 

« Danish lille, little. 

' I connect this name with bjiigr, bowed, crooked. There is, however, 
a medical term bjiigr, tumour, swelling, which we may compare with Danish 
biigne, to bend or bulge {de bugnende sell, the bellying sails ; cf. bztg, belly) ; 
and in these words we may have the explanation of our Lincolnshire bug, 
i.e. officious, proud, which is probably the immediate source of our surname 
Bugg. 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 275 

county for several generations at least after the Danish 
settlement. 

Much of this element, we rejoice to know,^ survives 
to the present day, and, although elementary education 
is doing its best to bring about a " dull uniformity " in 
the language of the people, — although, even within 
memory, many Danish words have sunk into complete 
or comparative disuse, the Lincolnshire Glossary is still 
rich in specimens from the Old Norse, and forms a living 
link of connection between our modern English and the 
ancient literature of the North. Independently of the 
Scandinavian loan words,^ which have taken their place 
in our classical literature, it will be long before the 
impression made by the Danes, a thousand years ago, 
upon our vulgar tongue, has altogether vanished. Many 
generations doubtless will yet come and go before 
Lincolnshire folk cease to Jlit from one street to another, 
bake their breadloaf, pay their fasten-penny and addle 
their living. Before such phrases perish from amongst 
us, an effete civilization may once more have been swept 
away by a barbarous race unspoilt by luxury, and the 

' "I am not willing that any language should be totally extinguished. 
The similitude and derivation of languages afford the most indubitable 
proof of the traduction of nations and the genealogy of mankind. They 
add often physical certainty to historical evidence ; and often supply the 
only evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions of ages, vv^hich 
left no written monuments behind them." (Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson, 
Letter written to Mr. W. Drummond, vol. ii. p. 25, 176(3.) 

- e.g. law, take, call, skin, egg, brink, etc. The ordinary reader has 
in Professor Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, an opportunity, such as was 
never possessed before, of learning how many and important have been 
these introductions. 



2/6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

New Zealander, or some representative of Lord Ma- 
caulay's hero, may mingle a Polynesian dialect with our 
mother tongue. 

Here, for the present, our inquiries must cease. Even 
if such researches, as have occupied the greater part of 
these pages, can hardly be said to possess any important 
historical bearing, they yet serve to bring us into close, 
almost personal, contact with a race, whose destinies 
have been inseparably woven with our own. The details 
which, for the most part, have been occupying our 
thoughts, may be in themselves insignificant, yet, such 
as they are, they concern an eventful page in the histoiy 
of our country and our race ; they concern a people, who 
have materially helped to make the English what they 
are. 

Whilst calling attention to these particulars, — whilst, 
as it were, gathering up these fragments of the past, we 
do not forget the broader and more general interests of 
the Danish occupation. Quite the reverse ; the very fact 
that the Danish settlement was fraught with such im- 
portant and permanent consequences in the history of 
Great Britain, and therefore of the world, invests the 
mere details and accidents of that settlement with an 
interest they might not otherwise possess. Nor perhaps 
will it be deemed out of place to point, in conclusion, to 
the wider and more vital aspect of the connection be- 
tween the Northman and the Anglo-Saxon race. 

The Danes did not overrun our land without fulfilling 
the design of Him, who interprets Himself in the history 
of the world. While their fresh, strong blood was poured 



THE LANGUAGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 277 

into the veins of the degenerate Englishman/ the 
Englishman, in his turn, brought these strangers from 
the North within the fold of the Christian Church,^ and 
opened for them the door to a life, at which their own 
religion made but a wild and fantastic guess. It is true 
that the sufferings inflicted by these Norsemen were 
terrible, but sacrifice is the condition and instrument of 
progress. It is true, moreover, that the Christian 
Church, into which the pagan Danes were received, was 
a most imperfect expression of the mind of Christ ; but 
the corrupt Christianity of the dark ages was better, far 
better than the decayed superstitions of the North. It 
may not have been a leap, but it was a step in the right 
direction ; not a leap, but a step towards the final goal, — 
towards the dispensation of the fulness of times, when 
God "shall gather together in one all things in Christ, 
of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named." 

The mother Church of Lincolnshire ^ still bears (it is 
believed) the trace of flames that were lighted a thousand 
years ago by Danish hands. It was not long before 
those hands were busy in building up the churches that 

' " For some two hundred years every district of England was traversed 
by troops, and every man forced to fight. The Commonwealth was 
shattered in the contest, but the people regenerated." (Pearson's History 
of England in the Early and Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 159.) 

^ Denmark was still, in spite of the efforts of the Christian Church, a 
heathen country at the time of the Danish settlements in England, and it 
can hardly be doubted that the conversion of the Anglo- Danes hastened the 
general evangelization of Denmark, and other parts of Scandinavia, which 
had hitherto resisted the advance of the Church. 

^ The church of Stow, between Lincoln and Gainsborough. 



2/8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

once they had destroyed. The fires that made havoc at 
Bardney, Stow, and Crowland, whilst possibly purifying, 
to some extent, the worship of Christian Englishmen, 
heralded the doom of Thor and Odin. It was a season 
of dismay to Lincolnshire and the adjacent counties, but 
it was a great day for England's history, when the 
Norseman set sail for these shores. Not otherwise was 
it a period of gloom to our country, when the descendants 
of Rolf the Ganger crossed the English Channel beneath 
the standard of Duke William, — yet, how bright with 
promise for the British empire of to-day ! For through 
every change, every revolution and upheaval of society, 
the world is working its way onward and upward ; and 
thus history exhibits God as overcoming the evil wdth 
the good, turning loss into gain, and making the death- 
throes of what has waxed old and is ready to perish, the 

birth-pangs of a nobler and diviner life. 

******* 

' ' Ring out a slowly dying cause, 

And ancient forms of party strife, 
Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws. 

Ring out old shapes of foul disease, 

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold, 
Ring out the thousand wars of old, — 

Ring in the thousand years of peace. 

Ring in the valiant man and free, 

The larger heart, the kindlier hand, 
Ring out the darkness of the land, 

Ring in the Christ that is to be." 



APPENDIX I.^ 



The following names bear the impress of Danish origin, although 
for various reasons, they have not appeared in the body of the 
work. Some of them simply record a personal name of no parti- 
cular interest ; others are, in regard to meaning and origin, subjects 
of pure conjecture ; others, again, have no interest beyond that of 
likeness to Scandinavian place-names elsewhere. It is, however, 
thouo-ht worth while to add them in an appendix. 

Althorpe. This name may be derived from several Danish 
pars, names ; Ah, Alfr, Hallr. See Madsen. 

ASFORDBY. In D.B. there is the pers. name Asfort, probably the 
corruption of AsvarSr. 

ASSERBY. Cf. Asserbo, Denmark, from pers. name, Asvarr. 

AUDBY. D.B. Alwoldebi, Alwoldesbi. Possibly, like Audleby, 
from pers. name Aldiilfr. 

AUNSBY. D.B. Ounesbi. Perhaps from Odin (cf. Owmby), or 
from AucSun, a very common name in Landn. AuSunn = 
Au^-vinr, i.e. kind friend, the Norse form of Sax. Eadvine, 
Edwin. There is also an Aunby near Stamford. 

BarnSDALE. Perhaps from pers. name Bjarni = hjorn, a bear ; 
cf. Barnadalsfjall, Iceland. 

Beesby. D.B. Besebi. O.N. by, a bee ; cf. Dan. and Sw. bi. A 
common pers. name. Bee is still a very common surname in 
Lincolnshire. See Appendix III. 

Bleasby. D.B. Blasebi and Blesebi. O.N. ^/^j-/ = the star or white 

mark on a horse's forehead. It is the name of a horse in 

Landn., and might easily be transferred to man. Blesberg (?) 

Denmark. Blaze is a surname in Lincolnshire. 

' In these Appendices a note of interrogation, unless it immediately 

follows a local name (for which see list of abbreviations) means that the 

suggested explanation is purely conjectural, and therefore very doubtful. 



28o LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

BOWTHORPE. D.B. Barnetorp (probably some error) ; cf. Borup 
and Baarup in Denmark, formerly Bothorpe and Bouethorp, 
from pers. name Bovi = O.N. bin, a dweller, a neighbour, but 
also a proper name. The name Bui is found in mod. I eel. as 
Bogi, and in Denmark as Boye. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet., also 
Madsen, p. 260.) So Boythorp in Yorkshire is Buitorp in 
D.B., showing that Bui suffered exactly the same corruption 
in England as in Denmark. 

Braceby. D.B. Bresbi, Breizbi. O.N. bersi, a bear, was a 
common pers. name ; sometimes, by transposition, Bresi. 

Braithing Bridge. O.N. brel^r, broad; A.S. bi-dd ; and efig, a 
meadow ; cf. Brething L.C.D., and Braithland C. L (10 
Edw. I.) ; and see Bray toft, below. 

Bransby. D.B. Branzbi. O.N. Brandr, a common pers. name 
from brandr, the blade of a sword ; cf Brandsby, Yorkshire. 
Also Brandsby L.C.D., now Bramsby ; Brandsmark, Denmark ; 
Brandagil, Iceland. Branville, Normandy. 

Branswell. D.B. Branzewelle. See Bransby. 

Brandy Wharf. This name may possibly perpetuate the pers. 
name Brandi, another form of Brandr. 

Bratoft. D.B. Breietoft. C.T.T. Breitoft. Perhaps from O.N. 
brd^r, n. biritf, broad ; or from bra, brow, edge (this village 
including the junction of wold and marsh). L.C.D. Brethasbol 
is mod. Bredbol. 

Brothertoft. O.N. bro^ir, a brother ; used as a pers. name ; 
cf L.C.D. Brotha^rthorp, mod. Braarup ; also Brodersbye, 
Denmark ; and so Brotherhill, Pembrokeshire. 

Burwell. D.B. Buruelle ; cf Bourville, Normandy. 

Cadeby. D.B. Cadebi, Catebi. Pers. name, Kati ; cf. Kattrup 
and Kattinge, Denmark ; Catteville, Normandy. So Cadney, 
Lincolnshire, is Catenai in D.B. ; so, too, Cadeby in Yorkshire, 
D.B. Catebi. 

Caenby. D.B. Couenebi ; C.T.T. Cafnabi ; Hundr. R. and PI. A. 
Cavenby ; R.C. Cavenebi ; I.N. Cauenby. This name is 
not very likely to be derived from cove7it for convent (cf. 
Covent Garden, and covan still used in Scotland), but more 
probably from some pers. name, possibly Kofan, O.N. kofaii, 
a lapdog, applied metaphorically to a snappish person.^ 

' On September 25th, 1849, the Rev. Edwin Jarvis opened a bar- 
row at Caenby, in which remains, supposed to be Danish, were found. 



APPENDIX. 281 

Candlesby, in Wapent. of Candleshoe. D.B. Calnodesbi. 
From pers. name Calnod (?). Kali was a Norse pers. name, 
and the sufifix nod is found in other names, e.g. Ahiod, Ed- 
nod, Ulnod (D.B.). Nod appears to be the corruption of 
Knutr (Eng. Knot), for while D.B. has the two varieties, Alnod 
and Alnot, the mod. Eng. form is AUnutt. The ancient 
Knutsby in Denmark is now Knudsby, Knud being the mod. 
Dan. form of Knutr. 
Cawthorpe. D.B. Caletorp. Perhaps from O.N. Kali; pers. 

name ; cf Kallerup, Denmark, formerly Kalsetorp. 
Claxby. D.B. Clachesbi. O.N. personal name Klaka, from 
klaka, to twitter like a swallow (Haraldr Klaka). The pers. 
name Clac is found in D.B. Clasket Gate, in the city of 
Lincoln, is the corruption of Klakslid. This is mentioned by 
Camden as Claskgate, but the Hundr. R. give us the clue to 
the origin of the name by calling it porta de Claxlid. There 
can be no doubt that the original name was Klakshli^, i.e. 
Klaksgate ; pot-la is superfluous, and could only have been 
added when the meaning of /ill's, a gate, had been forgotten. - 
The same redundancy is to be found in the name of the Grecian 
stairs close by Clasket Gate.^ One of the Claxbys is known 
as Claxby Pluckacre. In C.I. (Edw. I.) it is Claxby Plukaker. 
In a deed connected with Revesby Abbey (4 Edw. II.), we read 
of Claxby et Pluckacre. It seems most probable that Pluck- 
See a paper by Rev. Edwin Jarvis in the ArcluEological Journal, vol. viii. 
p. 36, ff. In this paper are some observations upon the remarkable scarcity 
of authentic Danish remains. But see this paucity discussed in Worsaae's 
Danes and Northmen in England, p. 42, ff. 

' There can be little doubt that Grecian is a corruption of greesen [i.e. 
steps), stairs being added when the word ^rtvjcw was no longer understood. 
(See a Paper by Chancellor Massingberd ; Proceedings of the Archaeo- 
logical Institute, p. 59. Lincoln, 1848.) Chancellor Massingberd says 
"There is indeed another derivation, sometimes given, viz. Greestan 
Stairs. If by this should be understood merely greystone, as is sometimes 
said, I must wholly dissent from it." It does not, however, seem to be 
altogether so impossible a derivation as Mr. Massingberd would maintain. 
In mod. Danish, graa-stcn is a technical term for hard stone, and represents 
the grd-steinn of O.N. The word grcysteyn was certainly introduced by 
the Norsemen into Normandy, for there was an Abbey of Grestein, or Grey- 
steyn, near the mouth of the Seine, founded in 1040. (See Dugdale, 
Mon. Angl. , vol. vi. p. 1090.) In Craven, mill-stones for grinding coarse 
grain are gray-stones, and in the same district (Craven) stairs are still called 
grees. (See Craven Dialect.) 



282 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

acre is the corruption of Plog-aker (see plogsland, an acre of 
land, CI. and Vigf Diet.). In Scotland pleuch ^.n^p/eoch are 
ordinary forms of the word plough. If this derivation be 
correct, the name is interesting as giving an early instance of 
the use of the word plough in England. Plough appears to 
be the Scand. plogr {ar^r being the Saxon term), though it is 
doubtful, whether, in its origin, it is a Teutonic word at all. 
(See Skeat's Etym. Diet.) O. Fries, ploch and O. H.G. p/luoc 
(like Scotch plt^uch and pleoch), approximate very near to the 
first syllable in Pluckacre. There is a Ploghsthorp mentioned 
in L.C.D., and cf., for analogy, Thorpe-in-the-Fallows, Lincoln- 
shire. We must, however, not forget that there is a provincial 
word ploc/c {i.e. plot), a small meadow ; but this would not 
harmonize with acre., which is arable land, though its original 
sense was perhaps paslure. 
Clixby. D.B. CHsby. In other early records, Chssby. The 
situation of this place, at the foot of the Caistor Hills, suggests 
that the original name may have been Clifsby ; cf. Klifsdalr, 
Iceland ; Klifslond = Cliffland, i.e. Cleveland. 
DiGBY. D.B. Dicbi. The low situation would make this name, 
as preserved by D.B., very natural. It is necessarily a district 
of dykes, and O.N. diki or dik is represented in Denmark by 
di£re. When, however, this word is found in Danish place- 
names it generally means, according to Madsen, a swamp or 
pool, and this may have been its original meaning in Digby. 
It might, on the other hand, be from the pers. name Digr, 
i.e. big, found in Landn. and elsewhere. 
DOWSBY. D.B. Dusebi. Dan. d?/e, dove ; common as a pers. 
name. So, in other parts of the county, we have Dowdyke 
and Dowsdale. Dowthorpe, Yorkshire, is Duvetorp in D.B. 
In Holderness dove is doo, and in Scotland dow. Cf. O.N. 
dufa, and A.S. dima. 
DUNSBY. D.B. Dunesbi and Dunnesbi. Most likely from a 

pers. name. 
EWERBY. D.B. Leresbi. This name, in medieval records, is 
generally found as Iwarby or Iwardby. There can be little 
doubt that it represents the great name of Ivar, i.e. Hingvar. 
Fanthorpe. O.N./^f;?/, a standard ; but used metaphorically of 
a buoyant, high-flying person, and so, no doubt, as a pers. 
name. See/?/z<^ in Glossary. Cf Fandrup (?) Denmark. 



APPENDIX. 283 

Farforth, Farholme. It is by no means improbable that the 
prefix Far, in some instances, represents Dan. faar, sheep ; 
O.N.y^, %fir\./Jclr. Farforth is next village to Oxcombe. In 
regard to the suffix, the situation admits, though it does not 
favour, the possibility of its being O.N./(?ra^, a morass. 

FiSKERTON. Named from its situation on the river Witham ; 
probably from Dan. Jls/cer (A.S. fisccrc), a fisherman ; cf. 
Fiskerhoved, Denmark ; or possibly from OM.fiskr, a fish ; cf. 
alsoyfj/-/, ger\. Jiskjar, fishing. 

FONABY. D.B. Fuldenebi. 

FULLETEY. D.B. Fullobi, Folesbi ; C.T.T. Fuledebi. Pers. name, 
Fuglali«i (.?). 

FULNETBY. D.B. Fulnodebi, Fulnedebi ; C.T.T. Fulnetebi. Pers. 
name, Fuglnod (?) ; cf. Fulstow, D.B. Fugelstov. 

Gainsthorpe. D.B. Gamelstorp ; PI. A. Gamesthorp. O.N. 
gamall, Dan. gaviniel, old. Used frequently as a soubriquet, 
as we use " elder " or " senior." Gammel is an exceedingly 
common prefix in Danish local names. Cf. Ganthorp, York- 
shire, D.B. Gameltorp ; and Gamblesby in the Lake District. 

Gayton-le-Marsh. (D.B. Gettune) ; Gayton-le-wold. (D.B. 
Gedtune). Gayton-le-Wold is situated upon the ancient 
Roman road which led from Burgh to Caistor. It is not there- 
fore improbable that the prefix represents O.N. gata, N. Eng. 
gate, a road ; Dan. gade. Gadeby is one of the commonest 
place-names in Denmark. 

GiRSBY. D.B. Grisebi (so Ric. de Grisby, Inqu. Non.). O.N. 
griss, a young pig ; Sw., Dan., gris. Griss is a pers. name 
in Landn., and cf. Grisartunga, the name of a farm in Iceland. 
Grice is still an Enghsh surname ; and in Scotland a young 
pig is called a grice. Cf. Grisby, D.B. Grisebi, and Gris- 
thorpe, D.B. Grisetorp, Yorkshire. 

GOKEWELL. I.N. Goukewelle. The prefix is no doubt a pers. 
name from O.N. gaukr, A.S. gedc, a cuckoo. Gaukr is found 
as a pers. name in Landn. As such too, gowk occurs very 
early in Danelagh ; Herbertus Gouk appears, in the Hundr. R., 
in company with Johannes le Cauf, Thomas Loppe {i.e. 
flea), and Radulph le Symple. The surname Gowk has 
survived to the present day. The cuckoo is still known as 
the gowk, and the owl as the glimmer-gowk, in Lincolnshire. 
That cuckoo was used simultaneously with gowk in the middle 



284 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

ages appears from the fact that we find in the Hundr. R. the 
the surname Cucku. The sufiSx well may be the Norse vill. 
GOULCEBY. D.B. Goldesbi. Spelhng varies in early records. 

See Yawthorpe. 
Graby. D.B. Greibi,Grosebi, Geresbi ; Hundr. R. Graytheby. It 
is possible that O.N. grei'Sr, ready, free (cf. N.E. gradely), 
was used as a pers. name ; cf grei^ir, a furtherer. Putting 
D.B. Greibi and Hundr. R. Graytheby together, this appears 
to be a possible derivation ; but see also Chapter xi. Grassby. 
Grainthorpe. D.B. Germundstorp, C.T.T. Ghermudtorp. By 
the time of Edward L (Hundr. R.), it had been worn down to 
Germethorpe. Geirmundr was a very favourite name among 
the Norsemen ; cf. Geirmundr-staSir. Iceland. See Grims- 
THORPE. 
Grebby. D.B. Gredbi ; cf. Gredby (?) Sweden. 
Grimsthorpe. D.B. Germuntorp. See Grainthorpe. 
Hannah. I.N., Hannay. The elevated position in the midst of 
marsh suggests the possibility that formerly the place may 
have been an island. 
Hardwick. D.B. Harduic, C.I. Herthewik, C.R.C. Herthenwike. 
These and other variations in the spelling make it possible 
that the prefix is A.S. eor'f>e, O.N. >>-«. The suffix may be 
wick, a village, or vik, a creek ; cf. Hardwick, D.B. Arduuic, 
Yorkshire. 
Harpswell. D.B. Herpeswell, O.N. harpa, A.S. hearpe, Dan. 
harpe, a harp. Harpswell is n'ot necessarily Norse in its 
origin, but we have in Denmark Harpelund (L.C.D. Harpas- 
lund), and Harplinge (L.C.D. Harpajlyung). 
HaSTHORPE. There is a Hastrup in Denmark, which is from the 

pers. name Ha^r ; see Hatcliffe. 
Hatcliffe. D.B. Hadeclive, Hundr. R. Haddeclif, T.N. Hade- 
clive, T.E. Hardcleve. This name is not necessarily Norse, 
but Hatcliffe is surrounded by villages with Danish names. 
The pers. name Harris found in Danish local names ; Hastrup 
(formerly Hatzsthorp), also two Hadstrups. Haddr was also 
an O.N. name. 
HaGWORTHINGHAM. D.B. Hacberdingham and Habdingham, 
C.T.T. Hagwordingeheim, Hundr. R. Hagwurthingham. If 
D.B. Hacberdingham best preserves the original form, we 
have in this village, in spite of its Saxon suffix, the grand old 



APPENDIX. 285 

Norse name Hag-bar^r (fine-bearded), which was one of the 
many names of Odin, and also of a mythical hero. (See CI. 
and Vigf. Diet.) Hagbar^r and HagbarSsholmc are found in 
the Landndmabok. 

Heckington. D.B. Hechintune. Not necessarily Norse, but 
Landn. contains the pers. name Haskingr, and the local name 
Haekingsdalr. 

HiLLDlKE. There is no hill within miles of this place ; and it is 
not unreasonable to connect the name with the word hill-dike 
used in the Orkneys (doubtless introduced by the Norsemen), 
to signify a wall of sods or other material^ dividi)ig the pasture 
from the arable latid. See Jam. Hill in this connection is 
perhaps from O.N. hylja, A.S. helan, to conceal, bury, — so, to 
heap 7ip, as we, in Lincolnshire, use the word hill of heaping 
earth over potatoes. 

HUMBY. D.B. Humbi. Probably from pers. name Hunn. 

Irby-in-Marsh (D.B. Jeresbi) ; Irby-on-Humber (D.B. Iribi). 
These names, like Ewerby, near Sleaford, and Ivory, in 
Wrangle, are most probably from the pers. name Ivar = Ingvar. 
So Jurby in the Isle of Man, formerly Ivorby, and Ireby in the 
Lake District. The descendants of Hingvar, who invaded 
England with his brother Hubba, were long connected with 
the Danish arms in England, and doubtless the name was 
frequent among the Anglo-Danes. It is curious that Irby-on- 
Humber is situated within a short distance of Humberstone, 
where Hubba and Hingvar landed. Cf. Irby and Yerby, 
Yorkshire, D.B. Irebi. 

Keisby. D.B. Chisebi, T.N. Kysebi and Kysaby. Perhaps from 
the uncomplimentary nickname Keis (from keisa, to project), 
i.e. round-belly. There is a Helgi Keis mentioned in the St. S. 

Kexby. D.B. Cheftesbi, Hundr. R. Keftesby. In this place we also 
probably have a nickname preserved to us. O.N. kjaptr., a 
jaw, has an obsolete form kcyptr, and is represented by Dan. 
kjceft. In Denmark kjceft, and in Norway kjcft., is used 
vulgarly for individual j ikke en kjisft, not a soul ; kvar ein 
kjeft., every man Jack. See Wedgewood's contested Ety- 
mologies. Wedgewood maintains, against Skeat, that the 
Eng. slang chap, i.e. a fellow, is a peculiar use of the word 
chap, cheek, which is from O.N. kjaptr. 

KiRKSTEAD. The suffix may, or may not, be Danish. O.N. sta'&r 



286 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

is found in Denmark as stad and sted, and is a very common 
suffix. In L.C.D. the sted'is statJie. 

Knaith. D.B. Cheneide, Hundr. R. Kney. Possibly we have here 
O.N. ei'S^ a neck of land, very common in place-names through- 
out Scandinavia. The first part of this name may be O.N. 
;(vz^' (knee) , referring to the configuration of the place, and to 
a singularly knee-like bend in the Trent at this spot. 

Laceby. D.B. Levesbi, Hundr. R. Leyseby. Leif, Leifr (from leif, 
an inheritance), was a frequent name amongst the Norsemen. 
From this name too, in Denmark, we have Ledstrup, formerly 
Lessthorpe. 

Legsby. D.B. Lagesbi. Leggrwas a personal name amongst the 
Norsemen, and is perpetuated in our English peerage. 

LOBTHORPE. D.B. Lopintorp, PI. A. Loppinthorp. Perhaps from 
O.N. hiaupingi, a land-louper. So hlmtpandi nicnn (partic. of 
hlaupa, to leap), land-loupers. The substitution of b for p 
would follow the Danish tongue, in which hlaupa is represented 
by lobe, to run. 

LuSBY. D.B. Luzebi and Lodebi, I.N. Lustebi. Lystrup in 
Denmark was formerly Lwtztorp and Lusthorp ; so Loserup 
was Lystorp, and these are from the common pers. name or 
nickname Ljotr, i.e. ugly. 

Mablethorpe. D.B. Malbtorp, Maltetorp, Hundr. R. Malbertorp 
and Mauberthorp, C.T.T. Malthorp. The D.B. and C.T.T. 
Maltetorp and Malthorp may have been suggested by the 
proximity of Maltby. There is a Maibolgaard in Denmark, 
and a farm in Iceland called Mar-bseli, i.e. sea farm. The 
pers. name Mabil in Landn. is a female name introduced from 
Ireland into Iceland. 

Maltby. D.B. Maltebi, pers. name Maltr, from maltr, sharp, 
bitter, Eng. malt. Malthe is a Danish surname at the present 
day. " Jauf Makes sune" occurs in a charter A.D. 1060. See 
Ferguson, English Surnames, p. 367. Cf. Mautheville, Nor- 
mandy, formerly Malteville. 

MONKSTHORPE. D.B. Herdetorp. This is a hamlet of Great 
Steeping, held formerly by the monks of Bardney ; cf. Munk- 
holm, Monkerup, Monkedrup, Denmark. 

MOORBY. D.B. Morebi, O.N. vior, a moor ; generally used of 
barren moorland, grown over with ling. A.S. mor, Dan. mor. 

MOSSWOOD in Belton. Dan. mose., a boggy moor. I do not know 



APPENDIX. 287 

of any other instance of the use of the word moss in Lincohi- 
shire, common as it is in the North. 

MUMBY. D.B. Mundebi, Hundr. R. Momby and Moniby, C.T.T. 
Munbi. Pers. name Mundr (?). 

Navenby. D.B. Navenebi, O.N. Nafni, i.e. namesake, occurs as 
a pers. name in Mon. Dan. Libr., Wormius. " Estir Tuka 
bruSur sin Nafni risti stin disi," which Wormius translates, 
"In honorem fratris sui Tyconis saxum hoc erigi curavit 
Nafni." There is a place in Denmark called Navntoft. 

Obthorpe. D.B. Opestorp, Opetorp, Hundr. R. Obethorp, T.N. 
Obbetorp and Ubbethorp. The present Everup in Denmark 
was formerly Opetorp, Opastorp, Obaerop. Overod is the 
modern form of Obseruth, and these are traced by Madsen 
(SJ£el. Stedn., p. 265) to pers. name Obi. Is Obi identical 
with Ubbi, which is another form of Ubba 1 Cf. Ubbethorp 
of T.N. 

Otby. D.B. Otesbi. This may be from pers. name Ottar ; cf. 
Ottestrup in Denmark, formerly Otterstorp ; or possibly from 
the pers. name Oddr. 

Rauceby. D.B. Rosbi. The pers. name Hroi is found in Rosted 
and Roholt, Denmark ; or perhaps from hross, horse, used as 
a pers. name. 

Revesby. D.B. Resuesbi. Perhaps from O.N. refr, a fox, a 
common pers. name. There is a Refsta^ir in Landn. Dan. 
rcEV is found in several local names. (See Madsen, p. 275.) 
The present Raevsherred is, in L.C.D., Refshoghcereth. 

Salmonby. D.B. Salmundebi. Pers. name Solmundr, Landn. 

SCAMBLESBY. D.B. Scamelesbi ; so in other early records. 
Skammel is a Danish surname, and a place called Skamstrup 
is said to take its name from Knight Peter Skammelson, who 
had a castle at this place ; but the place is much older than 
any such castle, and is more likely to derive its name from 
Skjalm. See Gamle Sjasl. Stedn., p. 106. Scamellisan English 
surname at the present time, and is most likely to be traced 
to Dan. skammel^ A.S. scamel, a stool, which might easily be 
applied as a nickname. There is a Simon de la Scamele 
noticed in the Yorkshire D.B. 

SCAMPTON. D.B. Scantone. Perhaps from skamt n. of skamr 
short, sometimes used in a local sense ; or it may be from 
the nickname Skammi. (See skamr, CI. and Vigf. Diet. 



288 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Skamherred in Denmark appears in L.C.D. as Schammce- 
ha;reth. 
SCARTHO. D.B. Scarhou, R.L.C. Scarteho, R.C. Scarfho, T.N. 
Scardhou and Scartho. O.N. nickname SkarSi, i.e. harelip, 
or perhaps from skarfr, a cormorant, used as pers. name. 
This is still found in Scotland. See Jam. skarth., skart, skarf, 
cormorant. Norw. skarv (O.N. skarfr) means a scamp as well as 
a coruwrant. It is somewhat curious that in the various 
spellings of this local name we have all the three Scotch forms, 
Skarth, Skart, Skarf (Scartho, Scarteho and Scarfho). The 
suffix is probably the record of a burial mound. 
SCRIVELSBY. D.B. Scrivelesbi, PI. A. Scrulby, C.T.T. Skriflebi. 
Skirvill or Skirvir was a dwarf in Norse mythology^, and is 
found as a nickname in the Islenzkir Annular. We also find 
the O.N. word skirfl (mod. skrifli), meaning a hulk, or old 
dilapidated thing, and which might very naturally do duty as 
a nickname. 
SCUNTHORP. D.B. Escumetorp. From pers. nickname Skuma 
{skuma, shade, dusk), perhaps in allusion to the complexion, 
hardly with our idea of a shady fellow. There is also a female 
pers. name Skuma (from ski'nnr, the skua gull), given, no doubt, 
with reference to gossiping or chattering propensities. 
SCUPHOLME. The skufr was the same bird as the skinnr (skua 
gull), and was used as a pers. name. The situation, however, 
of Scupholme, bordering, as it does, upon a very low tract 
of fenny ground, not enclosed until 1840, makes it quite 
possible that this name records the presence of the skufr 
{Jarus catarractes). 
Silk Willoughby, originally Silkby cum Willoughby. For 
Willoughby, see Chapter iv. Silkby from silki., silk, used as a 
pers. name, or rather nickname. Cf. Silki Jon, Silkiauga 
Sigurd r, Flateyj. B. 
Skinnand. D.B. Schinende, Hundr. R. Scinand, Skynant. From 
the local name Skinandavegr in Iceland, it would seem that 
Skinnand was a pers. name. There is a Skynandbrigg in C.I. 
Edward I. 
Sloothby. D.B. Slodebi ; O.N. slo'&i., a trail, used as a pers. 
name, i.e. a slothful, slovenly person. O.N. slo'Si, in the sense 
of trail., is found in English sleuth-hound. 
Snarford. D.B. Snardesforde and Snertesforde, C.T.T. Snarte- 



APPENDIX. 289 

forde. The suffix is English, but the prefix appears to be the 
O.N. nickname Snortr, gen. Snartar (Ivar Aascn, snart = a 
stick burnt at one end). This nickname is found in the 
Landn., and there is a place in Iceland called Snartartunga. 
The descendants of Snortr were called Snertlingar. 

Snelland. D.B. Sneleslunt. The prefix is from a personal 
name, which may be from A.S. s;icl or O.N. s?ijallr, swift, 
courageous. Madsen, however, gives snjallr, as entering into 
place-names, in the sense oi smooih,evcnj especially in regard 
to that which is cut off (afsnittet). 

Snitterby. D.B. Esnetrebi, Snetrebi, C.T.T. Snitrebi. Edmunds 
suggests from sni^an, to cutj or excavate. Munford traces 
Snetterton and Sniterley in Norfolk to A.S. suet, suite, a snipe, 
used as a pers. name. Perhaps Snitterby is more likely to be 
from O.N. snotr, A.S. snoter, wise. Snotra was also a minor 
goddess in the Norse mythology. We also find siiyrti (quasi 
snytri, from s7ioir), elegant, which might most naturally be used 
as a pers. name. Cf. Netreville in Normandy, formerly Esneu- 
trevilla. 

SOTBY. D.B. Sotebi. From pers. name Soti, which appears 
to have been common and general. Soti = a soot-coloured 
horse, from sot, soot ; when applied to persons, probably 
referred to hair, complexion, etc. There is a Sotanes and 
Sotasker mentioned in Flateyj. B., and there are two Soderups 
in Denmark from this name. 

Spanby. D.B. Spanebi, Spanesbi. Most probably from O.N. 
spdfm or spomi (Eng. spoon), a chip or shaving ; used as a 
pers. name. A possible derivation may be found in Dan. 
spang (O.N. spong), a foot-bridge or stepping-stones. The 
present Spanager, in Denmark, was formerly Spongagr^e. (Sec 
Madsen, Sja;l. Stedn., p. 243.) A stream runs through the 
village of Spanby. 

Stockwith. Hundr. R. Stoketh, I.N. Stokheth. The suffix is 
O.N. vi^, a wood ; Dan. ved. The prefix may be A.S. stoc, 
so often found in place-names, e.g. Basingstoke, Bishopstoke. 
This is common in Scandinavia too, e.g. Stockholm, Stoksbjerg, 
and Stokket, which is the modern form of Stockvith, and 
shows how naturally Stockwith was corrupted into Stoketh of 
Hundr. R. On the other hand, it is possible, when we consider 
the situation of Stockwith on the river Trent, that it was so 

U 



290 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

called from the stocks, on which ships are built. (See stokkr 
CI. and Vigf. Diet.) It may have been a ship-building place, 
for which the width of the river and the neighbouring wood 
(implied in the suffix) would adapt it. 

SWARBY. D.B. Suarrebi, T.E. Swarrebi. The pars, name Svair 
is found in Svedstrup, Denmark, formerly Swersthorp ; also 
in Svogerslev (the name Svair subsequently assuming the form 
of Svager). Perhaps the poetical and obsolete svdrr, heavy, 
grave, was used as a pers. name. It is possible that Swarby 
preserves the O.N. svorrf, a desolator, occurring as a nickname 
in Landn. Again, the name may have dropped a /, and may 
have originally been Swarthy ; cf Sorterup, Sverborg, in Den- 
mark, formerly written Swarthorp and Swerthbyrthae ; in 
this case svartr (black), would most probably be a pers. 
name. Perhaps, however, it is more probable that Siward (a 
common Scandinavian name, and one that occurs in Lincoln- 
shire D.B.), is preserved in Swarby. Sewerby in Yorkshire is 
Siwardby in D.B. In Scotland a sware or stuire = a level 
spot between two hills, from A.S. swira, Icel. sviri, a neck. 
(See CI. and Vigf. Diet.) 

Tealby. D.B. Tavelesbi, Hundr. R. Tevelby, C.T.T. Teflesbi. 
The nickname Tafl appears in Tafl Bergr in St. S., possibly 
referring to the gaming propensities of the person so-called ; 
tafl (Lat. tabula), a game like the O.E. draughts (CI. and Vigf. 
Diet.). 

Trusthorpe. D.B. Dreuistorp, Druistorp, Thuorstorp. Very 
likely from pers. name prostr Landn. (O.N. Vrbstr, a thrush). 
Possibly from pers. name priiSr, which is found in Truds- 
holm, formerly Thrutzholm ; also Trutstorp, A.D. 1248. (See 
Madsen, p. 248.) 

Walkerith. Perhaps a corruption of Valgar^vith. ValgarSr was 
a common pers. name amongst the Norsemen : so ValgerSr 
was common for females, of which Valka was an abbreviation. 
Valliquerville, in Normandy, was formerly Walekervilla. 

Walmsgate. D.B. Walmesgar ; so most early records ; but 
C.T.T. has Valmeresgara, which gives the pers. name after 
which this place was called, viz. Valdmser, i.e. valdi, valdr, 
keeper, and 7ncrrr, famous (Waldemar). Valdr enters into 
many names, as Asvaldr, Rognvaldr, sometimes dropping the v, 
— Har-aldr, Ingj-aldr, Arn-aldr. Yor gare, see Chapter xii. But 



APPENDIX. 291 

from the fact of gate having been substituted for gare, it is 
possible that, originally, the name was Valmcrsgarth. 

Weelsby. D.B. Wivelesbi, C.T.T. Viflesbi. The pers. name 
Vifill, from O.N. vijlll, a beetle (A.S. %vifel, Eng. weevil), 
appears to have been common amongst the early settlers in 
Lincolnshire. Weelsby, Wilsthorpe, and Wilsford owe their 
prefix to this name. In Denmark, Wilsbek is Wivjelsbsec 
in L.C.D. In Landn. we find mention of Vifill and Vifilsdalr ; 
Vffill, St. S. ; Vifilsborg, Flateyj. B. ; also cf Willesley, in 
Leicestershire, abbreviated from Wivelsley. 

WiNCEBY. D.B. Winzcbi, O.N., vinr, A.S. wine, a friend. 

WiNTHORPE. SeeWlNCEBY. But possibly the prefix is O.N. viti, 
a meadow, A.S. wine, a pasture. Some of the richest pastures 
in the county are in Winthorpe and the adjacent parishes. It 
is not very probable that the Norsemen introduced viu into 
England, as it was obsolete before the occupation of Iceland, 
but they might have resumed its use through the Saxon wine. 

Yawthorpe. D.B, Loletorp, but almost invariably Jolthorp or 
Yolthorp. Cf. Youlton, Yorkshire, D.B. Loletune. So, too, there 
are many spots in Lincolnshire called the Youlls. It is by 
no means impossible that the/ or j/ represents an original^, 
and that the name was once Goldthorpe. Cf. the interchange 
of ^ and_y in gold and jeiiow. In Scotland the yellow hammer 
is called the je/dring or youln'ngy cf O.N. gu/r, Dan. gtel, 
yellow. Dan. gul is often found in place-names in reference 
to colour, Guullyng, Gulhoi, Gyllemose. So also is guid, in 
reference to fertility of soil, e.g. Guldager. (See Madsen.) On 
the other hand, yol,youll may represent Dan. hide, a hollow. 
O.N. joll — wild angelica, but this is not a probable origin 
of Yolthorp. 



( -he 



r^ 



APPENDIX IL 



THONG CAISTOR. 

It has been conjectured by learned antiquaries ^ that the prefix. 
Thongs in this name might be the corruption of the Old Danish 
T/iing, and thus might indicate one of the sites of local government 
during the Danish occupation. That Caistor was the centre of a 
strongly marked Danish area has already been pointed out, and 
nothing could be more natural than the choice of such a strongly 
fortified place for a sort of district metropolis ; but no ancient record 
is quoted showing any intermediate link between Thing and Thong, 
whilst the change of z into o is at least a very improbable one. 

That the place was called Thwang Castra at a very early date 
admits of no doubt,^ although in medieval documents the name 
is usually given simply as Castre. In public and legal notices, 
indeed, the distinctive prefix does not seem to have become general 
earlier than the thirteenth century. About A.D. i2co we find Thou 
Castra -' (where the 7i is doubtless an error for «), and Than Castra.'* 
In 1317 it occurs as Thwang Castra,'""' and as late as 1576 it is 
marked upon a map as Thwan Castor. Certainly such forms of 
the name lend no support to the idea that Thong was originally 
Thing. 

This, however, is not the only explanation that has been 

' e.g. the Bishop of Nottingham. (See the Danes in Lincolnshire. 
Lincoln Archaeological Report, p. 43, 1859.) 

- There is no ground for believing that the Tunnaceaster of Ven. Bede 
is to be identified with Thong Caistor. (See Pearson's Hist. Maps.) 

» Cal. Rot. Chart. ' ^ j. qj, chart. 

•'■' Ad quod damnum, 10 Edward. II. 



{ APPENDIX. 293 

t 

ventured.^ Ne r. Stukeley suggests that it is the corruption of 
Thegn. " ' mi incHnable to think the meaning of Thong Castle 
to be fetche :.-om Thane." - But by far the earliest, and indeed 
the traditional, interpretation of the name is one that is shared with 
several other places. The story is that, when Hengist and Horsa 
had assisted Vortigcrn against the Scots and Picts, and had gained 
a decisive vie. Dry at Stamford, their grateful employer inquired 
how he might recompense them. Hengist requested as much land 
as an ox hide would encompass. Having cut it into narrow strips, 
he took possession of an area sufficient for a castle and its demesne. 
The tradition is presumably a mere adaptation of the well-known 
story of the citadel of Carthage, alluded to in the first book of the 
.-Eneid. The same tradition is found attached to Tong in Shrop- 
shire,^ to Tong in Kent,^ to Doncaster in Yorkshire,^ and perhaps 
also to other places. 

It will probably be agreed that none of the foregoing suggestions 
possess any high degree of probability, and if I venture to make 
others, it is with no intention of demanding acceptance for them ; 
but it seems to me that there are two possible derivations, which 
have at least something to be said for them, although it may 
be difficult to decide which of the two has the greater show of 
probability. 

(i) It is possible that Thong is the corruption of Tong, and that, 
when originally given, the prefix was descriptive of the situation. 

' The theory that has connected the name with a curious whip tenure, 
that prevailed at Caistor up to the year 1847, is possible, though most im- 
probable. (For this whip tenure, see Anderson's Lincoln Pocket Guide, 
p. 86.) 

2 Iter, v., p. loi. 

^ See Journal of British Archceological Association, wn., p. 140, where 
we are also informed tliat the name of the Castle was Thaiige in Edward 
the Confessor's time. 

* Hasted's History of Kent, vol. ii. p. 601. This Tong was anciently 
called Thwang. Alluding to the story of the ox-hide. Hasted remarks, 
"Writers differ much in the situation of this land. Camden and some 
others place it at Thong Castle, Lincolnshire, others place it at Doncaster ; 
whilst Leland, Kilburne, Philipott, and others fix it here." Such variation 
throws doubt upon the whole story, which may be an adaptation of Virgil's 

lines — 

"Mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam, 

■f aurino quantum possent circumdare tergo." 
'.; ^n. I. 368, 369. 

* History of ' ,c Wapentake of Strafford and Tickhill. J. Wainwright. 



I 

/ 

294 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Dr. Stukeley thus writes of Caistor : " The Romans sJiowed their 
genius in choosing sites at Caistor, for they built their fortress upon 
a narrow promontory jutting forward to the West ; " and, again, " I 
suppose this narrow tongue of land was thus encompassed with a 
wall quite to the market-place." It seems rather singular that 
Stukeley should have thus described the locality without being led 
to the surmise that Thong might be the corruption of Tongue. 

The substitution of th for t is by no means an insuperable diffi- 
culty. The t07-p of pre-Norman times has developed into our thorpe}- 
The Toresby and Torenton of Domesday Book are our Thoresby 
and Thornton ; the ancient Ternescou is the modern Thrunscoe ; 
Thonock was once written Tunec." On the other hand, Torksey 
was as often spelt with an h as without, while Toft, at least on one 
occasion appears as Thoft.'^ With this confusion between the 
/ and //; it would not be surprising that, when the meaning of the 
term had been lost sight of, Tong should have become Thong.* 
But, besides this, the very same confusion is found in regard to 
other localities ; otherwise, the story of the ox-hide could not have 
become attached to the places which we know now as Tong. Leland, 
writing in the sixteenth century, speaks of Tong in Shropshire as 
Tunge,'' but he writes of Thonge Castle in Kent.*' Enough, 
however, has been said to show that the transition from Thong to 
Tong and vice versa was no difficulty to our forefathers. 

In addition, it may be said that nothing could have been more 
natural or more in accordance with custom than to add, as a per- 
manent prefix to the existing name of Caistor, the very word which 
Stukeley adopts in describing the situation, and make it Tongue 
Caistor.'' It is possible, moreover, that the fact of the Danish 

' Even at the present day / and th are, to a certain extent, interchange- 
able in the word thorp. Country people talk of Trustrup, Cawtrup, Gran- 
trup ; whilst Woodthorpe is locally known as Trup. 

" So, too, li has sometimes slipped into tun in Denmark ; Cf. Thun, 
Thunoe. 

* Hundr. R. 

^ It may also be borne in mind that the insertion of the aspirate would 
be in accordance with the genius of the English language, which is the only 
one of those belonging to its own race that has retained the sound of th. 

* "Tunge, a little thoroughfare between Ulvorhampton and Newport . , 
There was an old castle of stone called Tunge Castel. It standith half a 
mile from the town on a bank, under which runneth the broke that cometh 
from Weston to Tunge." (See Camden (Gough), vol, ii. p. 398.) 

^ See Camden (Gough), vol. i. p. 234. 
' Cf. Tungna-fell ; Tung-a ; Tunga-heiSr. 



APPENDIX. 295 

tange (O.N, tangi) having to a great extent taken the place of O.N. 
tunga'^ in place-names throws light upon the indiscriminate use 
of and a (Thong and Thang) in the early records of Thong 
Caistor. 

(2) Perhaps a more simple and probable interpretation of the 
name is to see in Thwang or Thwong another form, possibly a 
provincial pronunciation, of the word zvang or wong, field.- This 
receives support from the fact that, in Stukeley's time, a field 
at Horncastle, now known as Wong, was called Thwong or 
Thowng, and was identified by him with the Saxon word wofig or 
iaa;!g? It is worthy of note that while Tong in Shropshire was 
formerly called Thange and Toang, the name Thwang or Thwong 
appears to have belonged formerly to Thong Caistor as well as to 
Tong and Thong'* in Kent ; so that it is reasonable to look for the 
interpretation in some common source and in a word of familiar use 
Further, it may be added that the ivhaiig of Scotland, and the 
twang oi Shetland^ (for our English word thong), serve to show how 
nearly allied, in regard to popular pronunciation, are the various 
forms that have been under consideration, viz. wong, thong, 
thwong, wang, thang and thwang. 



TORKSEY. 

If those antiquarians are right who identify the modern Torksey 
with the ancient Tiovulfingaceaster,'' it is an interesting question 
how the somewhat unmanageable name, familiar to our ancestors, 

' Sjrel. Stedn. Madsen. p. 247. So in Shetland, taingorfang = a tongue 
of land. See Jam. 

- IVangis probably found in Wangford, Suffolk. 

' Iter. i. p. 30. 

* Called Thuang, tcmj>. Henry II., Tuang a little later. See Hasted's 
Kent. 

' See Jam. Diet. 

^ Stukeley and Camden (Gough) identify Tiovulfingaceaster with Tork- 
sey, and they are followed by the present Bishop of Nottingham, Lincohi 
Archreological Society's Report, 1S57, and Sir Charles Anderson, Lincoln 
Pocket Guide, p. 96. Mr. Pearson, on the other hand, doubtfully points 
to Southwell (Historical Maps of England). The late Mr. Green (Making 
of England) decides in favour of Farndon, near Newark. Newark itself 
has had advocates, also East Bridgeford. 



296 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

was replaced by the less pretentious one on our present map ; for 
it can hardly be supposed that the one is the corruption of the 
other. An eminent writer on Lincolnshire archaeology, whilst 
acknowledging the difficulty of explaining the change, merely 
suggests that one was the Saxon, the other the Norman name of 
the place. ^ Between the Saxon and Norman settlements occurred 
the Danish ; may not the change, if such there was, be due to the 
Danish occupation, which intervened between the English and 
Norman conquests ? 

It is well known that in the year 873 the Danes wintered at 
Torksey," and it is probable that the place was then called by its 
present name. But more than thirty years earlier the whole 
district of Lindsey had suffered severely at the hands of the North- 
men,2 who therefore, from a very early period, were well acquainted 
with this neighbourhood. The position of Torksey would strongly 
recommend it to the invaders. An island at that time (as the 
suffix indicates), situated about half-way between Gainsborough 
and Lincoln, in the river Trent, which was the Norseman's high- 
way into the heart of England, the place would prove a most 
advantageous situation, whether for business or defence. The 
history, too, of the town, so far as its history is known, strongly 
favours the Danish origin of the name. At the date of the Norman 
Conquest, Torksey was one of the most populous commercial 
centres in the east of England, although even then its importance 
had begun to wane. The decay steadily continued, and in the 
reign of Edward III. the place had sunk into its present obscurity.'* 
It will thus be seen that the prosperity of the town exactly coincided 
with the supremacy of the Danes, and it has been already'shown that 
it forms part of one of the most strongly marked Danish districts 
in the county.^' Is it not, therefore, probable that the place owed 
its rise to the presence of the Northmen ? Their arrival in these 
parts, and their consequent choice of this spot to be one of their 
stations, would naturally bring to it an adventitious importance, 

' The present Bishop of Nottingham. 
, ^ Saxon Chronicle. 
' A.D. 838. See Saxon Chronicle ; also Danes in Lincolnshire, Bishop 
of Nottingham, Lincoln Archreological Report, 1859, p. 45. 

* See Stark's History of Gainsborough. 

* If the name of the place, as some have suggested, was changed from 
Tiovulfingaceaster to Torksey, there is no easier explanation of such a fact 
than a change of population. 



APPENDIX. 297 

which, in later times, would as naturally yield to the claims of 
Lincoln, Gainsborough, Newark, and other places in the neigh- 
bourhood. 

By far the most probable account of the name is, as Mr. 
Edmunds has suggested,^ that it represents one of the many 
Thorketils, or Thorkils, who came to Lincolnshire amongst the 
Danes. For the contraction of Thorkilsey into Torksey," we have 
the best possible argument in exactly similar cases in Normandy, 
where Torkilville has become the modern Turqueville, and the 
original Torketilville has been cut down to Teurtcville.^ What 
perhaps is still more to the point is that, at the very period when 
Lindsey was first ravaged by the Danes, parts of Ireland were 
being mastered by a viking nanied Thorgil,"' who in contempo- 
raneous records figures as Turgesius. 

* Names of Places. 

" Or Thorksey, which is a frequent spelling in medieval documents. 

' Turqueville was formerly written Torclevilla, and Teurteville was 
Torqvetelvilla. Analogous cases of corruption in the same country are to 
he found in Tourgeville, formerly Turgisvilla from Thorgil, and Quetteville, 
formerly Ketelsvilla, which affords an exact parallel to the Lincolnshire 
Ketsby, a late corruption of Ketelsby. (See Worsaae's Den Danske 
Erobring af England og Normandiet, p. 179, note i.) There is a Terkel- 
stofte in Denmark. 

* See Chronicon Nortmannomm, C. H. Kruse. The devastations of 
tlie Danes in Lindsey, and the conquests of Ireland Ijy Turgesius, are 
mentioned under the same year, a.d. 838. The name of Thorgil, however, 
•is probably a contraction of ThorgisI, and is not to be confoiuided with 
Thorkil. 



APPENDIX III. 



PERSONAL NAMES IN LINCOLNSHIRE.^ 

In the subjoined lists, an attempt has been made to connect some 
of the Lincolnshire personal names of the past and the present 
with the names and language of Scandinavia. Many of the sug- 
gested derivations are probably erroneous, for in no branch of 
inquiry is mistaken identity so common and inevitable, as in that 
which relates to surnames. Two names which, at the outset, were 
as distinct in sound as in meaning, may, by the friction of use, be 
worn into the self-same form ; or they may undergo such change 
in passing from mouth to mouth, through succeeding generations, 
that they bear scarcely a trace of the original ; or they may appear 
side by side in the same directory in several distinct forms, each 
form possibly suggesting a distinct derivation. Again, it may 
often happen that when two or more derivations are possible, the 
mind may be unfairly biassed in its decision by the subject in 
hand. Thus in many ways one may be misled, and the present 
attempt may contain many flagrant and amusing cases of error. 
Amid much, however, that may be doubtful, some names at least, 
it will be seen, may be traced with confidence to the Norsemen. 
The lists which follow make no pretension to be full, much less 
exhaustive ; nor can it be said with confidence that the names, 
without exception, are characteristic of the county, although they 
are all found within its borders. 

4 

' The first list, p. 299, which refers to the present day, consists ex- 
clusively of surnames. The names in the second catalogue belong partly 
to a time in which surnames had, properly speaking, no existence, partly 
to the transition period (a.d. 1200-1400), at which surnames were be- 
ginning to take the place they now occupy in our social relations. 



APPENDIX 299 

Algar. O.N. Alfgeirr, T.N. Alger. 

Almond. O.N. Amundr. 

AsMAN. O.N. Asmundr. 

AUDUN, O.N. Au^un, Landn. 

Balderson.i O.N. Baldur. 

Bang. Perhaps from Icel. bang, hammering ; or Norse baitgi, a 

bear. See Fcrg., E.S., p. 133. 
Basker. Dan. baskc, to slap, flog (?). Baqueville in Normandy was 

formerly Bascherville. (See Expeditions Maritimes des Nor- 

mands, Dcpping, p. 541.) The surname Baskerville is now to 

be met with in Cornwall. 
Bee. This appears to have been introduced by the Northmen. 

(See Ferg., E.S., p. 187.) Icel. by, Dan. Sw. bi, A.S. bco, a bee. 
Beels. O.N. BeH (cf. Beelsby) ; I.N. Bele. 
Belk. Perhaps from Dan. bjcclke, a balk, a log ; Icel. bjalki. 
BissiLL. Dan. bidsel (pron. bissel) ; Icel. bcisl, T.N. Besel and 

Besille. 
Bligh. Ferg., E.S., p. 321, derives this from Icel. blji'igr, Sw. blyg, 

Dan. bly, bashful, shy. 
Blundy. O.N. Blundr, a nickname meaning sluinberer, from 

bhmdr, dozing, sleep. 
Bole. Icel. boU, a bull, Dan. boll ; or bolr, biilr, the trunk of a 

tree. But it may be a local surname from Bole on the river 

Trent. 
Boss. Icel. bossz, a boy, a fellow ; Sw. bicss (cf. the Americanism 

" Old boss ") ; Hundr. R. Bosse and Bossey. 
Brand. O.N. Brandr, Landn. ; also Brandi. Hundr. R. Brand. 
Brant. Ferg., E.S., p. 318, identifies this with Su. G. brani, Icel 

brail}', impetuous ; but there is also A.S. bronl, bnmt, stream- 
ing, raging. 
BUGG. See Chapter xiii. for some remarks on this name. 

' " The forms in son are not only rare in Angle, but they are rare in 

all the proper German dialects. At the same time, they are extremely 
common in the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, i.e. in all the languages of 
the Scandinavian branch. The inference from this can hardly fail to be 
drawn, viz. that all the numerous Andersons, Thompsons, Johnsons, Nel- 
sons, etc., of England, are more or less Danish, as opposed to Angle." 
(Latham, History of the English Language, 5th edit., 1862, p. 134.) It would 
perhaps be more strictly correct to say that the practice of adding son in 
the formation of surnames was adopted in England from Scandinavia. (Sec 
Ferg., E.S., p. 285.) 



300 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Bunker, This name appears in Inqu. Non., and it is not un- 
fair to consider it of Danish origin ; see bunchy bimk (Skeat, 
Etym. Diet.). 

BussEY. See Boss. 

Bust. Dan. bbrste or bbste^ (i) a bristle, (2) a boar ; Icel. burst or 
biist^ Sw. bosta ; or possibly from Icel. bust, a kind of fish, 
mentioned in the Edda. Inqu. Non., Bust. 

Butters. O.N. Bu<5ar, Bo^varr. Bo^varr is a very common 
name in Landn. Butters is common in the North of Scotland 
at the present day. 

Cant. Dan. kant, ready, ship-shape ; cf Scotch ^cz///, lively, brisk. 
This name may have been introduced into Lincolnshire from 
Scotland. Immanuel Kant, the philosopher, was of Scotch 
extraction, and his parents spelt the name Cant. 

Carrie. O.N. Kari. See p. 65. 

Cattle. O.N. Ketil, D.B. Chetel. Mr. Ferguson however, takes 
Cattle to be diminutive of Cat, and doubtfully identifies it with 
Katla, a female name in Landn. (English Surnames, p. 160.) 

Clack. O.N. Klak {e.g. Haraldr Klak) ; D.B. Clac (cf Claxby). 

Clegg. Icel. Jdeggi (N. klegg, Ivar Aasen), ahorse fly. The word 
cleg is still in common use in Lincolnshire ; so, too, throughout 
N.E. and Scotland. 

COE. Dan. koc, a cow. 

Cragg. Dan. krage, a crow ; Icel. kraka, used as a nickname ; 
cf. Grimbold Crac, D.B. Krage is found as a pers. name on 
Runic monuments. If this is the same word as knika, krage 
is thus shown to be a very early form. 

Dann. Cf. D.B. and Hundr. R., Dane. 

Darnell or Darnill. According to Ferg. (Surnames as a 
Science, p. 164), this name is the modern form of Dearnagle, 
which is found in the ancient place-name Dearnaglesford. 
This he takes to be compounded from Icel. dor., a spear (see 
CI. and Vigf. Diet., darra'&r, dart, of which the common form 
in poetry is darr, dor), and nagcl, a nail. It is, however, 
perhaps more probable that Darnell or Darnill has, by a 
transposition of consonants, come from Darling ; cf starnil, 
which is a common (and ancient, see M. and C. 01.) provincial- 
ism for starliJig. 

Diggle. Perhaps Icel. dingull, a spider ; often corrupted into 
digull ; or possibly from Icel. digia, to run at the nose ; to drip. 



APPENDIX. 301 

Dring. Icel. drc?igr, a youth, attendant, young man ; M.P2. dre7ige 
and dringe. The word is Scandinavian (see CI. and \'^igf. 
Diet), and was introduced by the Danes into England. 

Drust. Perhaps O.N. prostr, Landn. ; Icel. frosfr, a thrush. 
This may be identical with the prefix in Trusthorpc, which, in 
D.B., is Dreuistorp, Druistorp, Thuorstorp. In Germ, the 
th is d, drosscl ; Eng. throstle. 

Elger. See Algar. 

Elliff. O.N. Eylifr, Eili'fr, Landn., D.B. Eilaf. 

Finney. Unless this name is connected with the finny tribe, 
there is good ground for supposing it to be of Norse introduc- 
tion. (See Finnr, CI. and Vigf Diet. ; also Ferg., Surnames 
as a Science, p. 89.) D.B. Fin. 

Flack. Icel. flakka, to rove about as a beggar ; flakk, roving 
about ; Dan. flakke, to rove ; JJakkcr, vagrant. Or perhaps 
\cQ\./lak, a hood, a flapper. 

Fleer. See Glossary. 

Frudd. O.N. FroSi, Landn., from Icq\. ffdi,r, clever. The name 
may also be from A.S.fro'S. 

Gaby. Icel. gapi, a heedless man. 

Gadd. lce\. gaddr, Sw. gadd, a goad, spike, sting. Perhaps this 
name originally meant "■agad-ai>07(t" and it would, in that case, 
be from Icel. gadda, to goad. (See gad^ to roam, Skeat, 
Etym. Diet.) 

Gait. Icel. ^^//, a she-goat ; A.S. gat. That Icel. gelt was for- 
merly in use in Lincolnshire seems to be indicated by the fact 
that, in Cal. Inqu. post mortem, Gate Burton appears as Geit 
Burton. Gate Burton doubtless means Street or Road Burton ; 
but in this instance the prefix Gate, or Gat (as it formerly was 
spelt), seems to have been taken for A.S. gat, a goat, and 
rendered by the Icelandic equivalent ^.iV/. 

Gamble. Icel. ganiall, old ; very frequently used as a soubriquet. 
Hundr. R. Wilhelmus Gamel ; Inqu. Non. Gamill. 

Gandie. Mr. Ferguson derives this name from Icel. gandr, a 
monstei', a wolf, which appears as a pers. name in Landn. 

Gant. Icel. gajiti, a coxcomb ; Dan. gante, fool, simpleton ; or 
perhaps, more likely, the older spelling of gaunt, which is a 
Scandinavian word from Norw. gand, a thin stick, a tall, thin 
man, an overgrown stripling. (See Skeat's Etym. Diet.) 

Gapp. See Gaby ; and Ferg., E.S., p. 327. 



302 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

GiNN, Icel. ginii, gitiiir, a jester, juggler ; gwna, to dupe. Or 
perhaps \ce\. gin, A.S. gin, a mouth. 

GOODLIFE (also WOODLIFFE, a common name in Lincolnshire). 
O.N. GutSleifr, Landn. ; Inqu. Non. Godelef. 

Grice. Icel. gr/ss, a young pig ; S\v. Dan. gri'sy cf. Scotch ^^r/Vi?. 

Grimbles. O.N. Grimbald. 

GUMMARSON. O.N. Gii'Smar ; cf. Gummersmark, a place in 
Denmark ; or perhaps corrupted from Gunnerson ; cf. O.N. 
Gunnar. 

GUNHILL, GUNNILL. (There is also Gumhill, no doubt a corruption 
of Gunhill.) O.N. Gunn-hildr, a female name ; Dan. and 
Sw. Gunila. 

GUNSON. Dan. Gunnesen ; cf. Inqu. Non. Gunne. 

Haith, Haithe. Probably the Lincolnshire pron. of Heath, 
according to Icel. Itei^r, O.H.G. haida, rather than A.S. ha^. 
Or perhaps from Icel. hei'Sr, bright. 

Harold, Harrod, Harrad. O.N. Hdraldr. 

Healey. O.N. Helgi, Landn. (from hcilagr, holy) ; also an 
abbreviated form of Hd-leygr. 

Humble, O.N. Humbl. or Humli, the father of Dan, the tra- 
ditional founder of Denmark. This name appears to be con- 
nected with Icel. huniall (humulus), the hop plant. Humla 
appears as a nickname in Sturl. S. The name found its way 
into Lincolnshire at an early period (probably through the 
Danes), for we have a Humbelbec Syle mentioned in 
Hundr. R. 

Hurley. Icel hyrligT-, smiling, sweet of countenance. 

INGALL. O.N. Ingjaldr. 

ISSOTT. O.N. Isodd. So Ferg., Surnames as a Science, p. 56. 

J AGGER. Daxi.jager, a hunter ; cf \c€\.. jaga, to move to and fro, 
a word to which the sense of hunting does not strictly belong 
(see CI. and Vigf Diet.). Jt^iga, however, means to altercate, 
and jag is a quarrel (cf. Dan.y^^, hurry, hubbub) ; and this 
may be the meaning which lies at the root of this sur- 
name. 

JELLEY. Probably a form of Eylifif ; other forms are Jellifif and Jelf. 

Kelk. Icel. kjdlki, jawbone ; Eng. cheek ; O.H.G. chelch. 
Kelke is a very early Norfolk surname. 

Kettle. O.N. Ketil, D.B. Chetel. 

Knott. O.N. Kniitr. Inqu. Non. Knot. 



APPENDIX, 303 

Lath. Icel. hla'Sa, a barn ; Dan. lade ; Lincolnshire, laiJic. 
Not likely to be from Eng. lath, as this word is always pro- 
nounced hit, in Lincolnshire. Hundr. R. Joh. de la Lade. 

LiLL. Dan. lillc, little. {Lill is a word still in use in Cleveland.) 
Inqu. Non. Lelle. 

LiVESEY. O.N. Leofsi, D.B. Lefsi. 

Levick. O.N. Livick, a Dane or Northman mentioned in Saxo. 
(See Ferg., E.S., p. 245.) 

Loft. O.N. Loptr. One of the names of the god Loki, and a very 
common jjers. name, connected with lopt (Eng. loft), air, sky. 

LOTE. O.N. Ljotr {JjStr, ugly) (?). 

LUNDY. O.N. Lundi, a nickname from Itmdi, a puffin. 

Mager. This agrees with Dan. and Sw. niager, Icel. viagr{\.^. 
inceger), lean ; all borrowed from Fr. inaigre, at an early date ; 
Lat. viacer. Magr occurs as a nickname in Landn., Helga 
enn Magra. 

Mee. Icel. /;/{', Dan. inyg (Eng. midge), a gnat, a midge. Ferg., 
E.S., p. 1S6., quotes Myg as the surname of an ancient North- 
man ; cf. Eng. name Miggs. 

MoGG, O.N. Mogr, Icel. mogr, a boy, man, mate. Inqu. Non. 
Simon Mugge or Mugger. 

MUNDY. O.N. Mundi ; abbreviated form of Asmundr. 

MuNN. O.N. Munnr, a nickname ; munnr^ mouth. Inqu. Non. 
Will. Munne. 

Myhill. O.N. MjoU (name of a lady, Landn.) ; Icel. 7njdll, 
fresh snow ; perhaps akin to mj'61 = meal. Ferg., E.S., p. 301, 
thinks that Miall, Miell, Meales, may be from Icel. vtjdll. In 
Inqu. Non. the name Myols occurs, which looks like a con- 
necting link ; but we must not forget that, in Lincolnshire, 
sand-dunes are called incels. 

Nell. Perhaps from. Icel. knell, courage. Nel appears at an 
early period as a surname in Norfolk. 

NiDD. Icel. 7if^r, son, kinsman (.?). 

Nutsey. This name, which does not appear to be of local origin, 
may be O.N. kiiutr with diminutive si. 

NUTT. O.N. Knutr. 

Odell. Icel. odcell, overbearing ; or perhaps connected with 

&Sal, patrimony. 
Odling. Icel. b'&lingr, (i) possessor of land,, nobleman ; (2) a 
person of gentle disposition. 



304 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Ogg. Icel. oeg7% terrible. 

Oliff. O.N. Olaf. Hundr. R. Olive. 

Onn. O.N. Onn and On, Landn. Icel. (w;;, work, business ; also 
ijivi^ an obsolete word for some part of a sword. There was a 
mythical king of Sweden called On. 

Orry. O.N. Orri (from or}-i, the heathcock), nickname. The 
last onslaught in the battle of Stanford Bridge was led by 
Eysteinn Orri, whence any fierce onslaught came to be called 
orra-Ju'i^ {Jirt^^ storm, attack). See CI. and Vigf. Diet. orri. 

Pape. Perhaps from lc&\. papi, priest = 'L'^'i. papa. 

OUANT. Perhaps from Icel. kvaiiia, to molest ; kvaiitr, moles- 
tation. We also have the surname Want, which may be a 
weakened form of Ouant ; or, on the other hand, Quant may 
be a strengthened form of Want. 

Rainey. May be the representative of Rannveig, Landn., or its 
weakened form Ranig ; or of Hrani, St. S., from hrani^ a 
blusterer. 

Raven. O.N. Hrafn, Dan. ravii., A-.S. hrcrfn, Eng. raven. By 
no means exclusively a Norse name, but more common in 
Scandinavia than elsewhere. T.N. Rafne. 

ROLFE. O.N. Hrolfr (qs. PIroS-ulfr). Hrolfr the Ganger was 
founder of the Norman duchy, and ancestor of William I. of 
England. T. N. Roulfe, Inqu. Non. Raufif. 

SCAFE. O.N. Skeifr, nickname from shcifr, askew. Scafe is still 
a Lincolnshire provincialism = awkward. See Glossary. Mr. 
Ferg., E.S., however, would rather derive the surname Skaife 
from "O.N. skjdlfa, to tremble; Cumberland scaif, timid;" 
he gives skeifr as an alternative. But Skafe, as a pers. name 
may, perhaps, be more closely connected with Scotch skaiff., 
to eat greedily, than with skjdlfa or skeifr. 

Scam AN. Perhaps connected with Icel. skavu; short ; which was 
used as a nickname by the Northmen. 

SCHOLEY. O.N. Skiili (from skjol, shelter). D.B. Escule. 

SCOFFIN. Icel. skoffin, a fabulous animal, said to be a hybrid 
between a she-cat and a fox. But perhaps it is the time- 
honoured name of Coffin, with the addition of an initial j'. 

Sendall. Icel. sendill, the name of a shepherd's dog (from senda, 
to send) (.?). 

SiNDERSON. O.N. Sindri, a mythological dwarf, meaning a 
blacksmith, from sindra, to glow ; sindr, slag. 



APPENDIX. 305 

Skepper. Perhaps a corruption of Skipper, or from S\v. sJceppare 
= skipper. In this case a certain Oriirhial Skepper, who 

figures in the Lincolnshire directory, might turn out to be 

the Ancient Mariner. But Skepper may be connected with the 

Lincolnshire provincialism skcp, a measure [e.g. pcck-skep) ; 

Icel. skeppa, Dan. skjcppe. Skepper is a very ancient name in 

Lincolnshire, and appears in Inqu. Non.; but even this may not 

be the original Skepper. 
Skill. Icel. skil., discernment, knowledge ; skila-iiur&r, a trusty 

man ; cf. to skill (in Cleveland), to discern, to know ; Icel. 

skilja. 
Skinn. O.N. Skinni, a nickname, meaning .^/'/^^(jr. The name 

Skinni was certainly used in very early times in Lincolnshire, 

since, besides Skinnand, there was a place called Skynnybocke 

mentioned in Hundr. R. 
Snart. Icel. stiar, snor, snart^ swift, keen ; snarl, used as «^7'., 

soon ; so Dan. snart, adv., from adj. snar, swift. 
Spink. Sw. D. spink, a fieldfare, sparrow. See Pink, Glossary. 

In parts of Scotland spinkie, slender and active, is still used ; 

Su. G. spinkog, gracilis (see Jam.). 
Spurr, also Spoor. O.N. Sporr, a nickname ; sporr, sparrow; 

Dan. spurv. In Scotland a sparrow is spur, spurd, spurg, 

spug, sprug (Jam.) ; D.B. Sperri. 
Stanger. Icel. stanga, to prick, to spear fish, to butt with the 

horns ; so Dan. stange, to poke, butt, etc. The name may be 

local, however, from Stanger, Cumberland. 
Stark. Icel. sterkr, Sw. stark, Dan. stcerk, A.S. stearc. This 

name appears in the earliest parish registers in the North of 

the county. Lincolnshire people still speak of a stark job, i.e. a 

stiff job. The word is also used of clothes stififened with starch. 

(See M. and C. Gl.). Cf. stark, storken, Cr. D. 
Starr. O.N. Starri (from stay-ri, a starling) (?). The starling is still 

called stare in some parts of Lincolnshire. 
Stout. Perhaps from Icel. sti'ttr, a bull (Eng. stoat and slot). But 

the name may easily have arisen from the personal peculiarity 

of stoutness. Inqu. Non. Stoyte. 
Stovin. Evidently from A.S. and O.N. stofjt, the stem of a tree. 

There is a Stovin Wood in Lincolnshire, and the word stovin = 

hedgestake, is still used in Leicestershire. The local name 

Stonesby in Lincolnshire (D.B. Stovenebi), seems to connect 

X 



306 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

this surname with the Norsemen, and even to suggest that 

Stofn was a personal name amongst the Danish settlers. 
Strakes. Icel. strdkr, a vagabond, rascal ; Inqu. Non. Straker. 
Swain. O.N. Svegn, D.B. Svain, T.N. Sweyn. 
Swales. Perhaps connected with Icel. svalla, to drink hard ; 

svall, a drunken bout. 
Swan. O.N. Svanr, Landn. ; D.B. Svan. The name Swan 

appears to be of Norse rather than German origin. (See 

Ferg., E.S., p. 170.) 
Taft. See Teft. 
Teft. Perhaps Norw. fcrff, scent. 
Thraves, also Traves. See thrave, Glossary. Perhaps the 

curious name Trevethick is a compound of thrave. 
Thorey. O.N. Thorey (female name). 

Thorold. O.N. Thoraldr, Landn. ; D.B. Turold, T.N. Toraldus. 
Thurgur. O.N. Thor-geirr. 
TOCK. O.N. Toki (from toki, a simpleton). In Denmark the 

name is found as Tycho (Tycho Brahe). Tuck is the more 

common English form, but the Lincolnshire form Tock better 

preserves the originak D.B. Tochi, Inqu. Non. Tok and 

Toke, Hundr. R. Tok, Toke and Tuke. 
Torn. Probably a survival of the former pronunciation of 

Thorn in Yorkshire ; there is a place still called Tome Nook 

near Crowle ; or the name may be direct from Dan. toj-n, a 

thorn. 
Torr and TURR. O.N. Thorr, in Runic inscriptions Thur. But 

Turr may be from Dan. fyr, a bull. 
Tow. O.N. Toui (which occurs in D.B.), another form of Tofi. See 

below. But Tow may be local, see p. 233. 
Tuff. O.N. Tofig, Tofi (?), which survives in the not uncommon 

English name Tovey. Mr. Ferg., E.S., p. 28 1, thinks that Tofi 

is the Dan. /oi'c, dove. 
TURGOOSE. This is probably the D.B. Turgis, which is most 

likely a corruption of O.N. Thorgils, qs. Thorgisl. 
TURPIN. O.N. Thor-finnr. The name Torben is still found in 

Scandinavia. 
TUSTIN. O.N. Thorsteinn, pronounced Thosteinn, and often so 

spelt in later vellums. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet. ])drr.) 
TUTTY. Icel. tnttr, tottt\ tom-thumb ; or perhaps the nickname 

Toti, from /<?//, a teat, or teat-like protuberance. 



AITENDIX. 307 

Twist. Icel. tvisir, sad, silent^?). 

Urry. See Orrv. But perhaps connected with Icel. urra, to snarl 

(see Ferg., E.S., p. 151). Perhaps, on the other hand, it is only 

a characteristic form of Hurry. 
ViCKERS. The fact that this is a very common name in Lincohishire 

makes it not improbable that it represents O.N. Vikarr, a com- 

jnon pers. name among the Norsemen, and having the same 

meaning as viking. (See Ferg., E.S., p. 340.) 
Wegg. Dan. veg, weak, pliant. On the other hand it may be A.S. 

iveg, Dutch, lueg, Icel. vegr^ way. 
Wh.\toff. O.N. Val-thjofr. But perhaps Waltheof has better 

claim to be English than Norse ; it was certainly introduced 

into Iceland from England. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 
YouD. Perhaps from Icel. jo's, a baby. 



ANCIENT NAMES. 

T.N. = Testa de Nevill ; I.N. = Inquisitio Nonarum. 

ACHI, D.B. O.N. Aki. 

AiNAR, D.B. O.N. Einarr. 

Alger, T.N. O.N. Alfgeirr. 

Anke, Hundr. R. Icel. hanki, Eng. hank. See Glossary. Cf. 

surname Hankey. 
Arketel, Hundr. R. (cf. Archel, D.B.). O.N. Arnketil. 
Arnald, I.N. O.N. Arnaldr. 
Ascer, Hundr. R. (cf. D.B. Azer, Azor). O.N. AsvarSr (.?) or Ozurr, 

early Dan. Atzerus ; cf Auzur, Ozur, Landn. 
ASLAC, D.B. O.N. A'sMkr. 

ASTAN, ASTIN, Hundr. R. O.N. Hdsteinn, or Eysteinn. 
ASTY, I.N. Icel. dstigr, lovely, dear (?). 
Bagard, I.N. Dan. bag-gaard (?). 
Bardolf, Hundr. R. O.N. Bardolfr. 
Barn, D.B. O.N. Bjorn ; or from barn, child. 
BegGE, I.N. Dan. beg, pitch (?). 
Bele, I.N. O.N. Beli; See Beel, Glossary. 
Belger, I.N. Icel. belgr, skinny old man. 
Besel, Besille, T.N. Icel. beisl, a bridle : Dan. bidsel^ Sw. betsd. 



308 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Bidsel was certainly in early use as a pers. name in Den- 
mark, since there is a place in tliat country called Bisselterp, 
Bidselterp ; cf. the Lincolnshire name Bissill. 

Bla, Hundr. R. Icel. bldr, bid, blatt (Dan. blaa\ livid, pale ; also 
foolish, insipid. See bla. (Jam.) 

Blabige, I.N. Dan. blabbre, to babble. See blab (Skcat, Etym. 
Diet.). 

Bleycolf, Hundr. R. O.N. Bleik-olfr, Icel. bleikr, pale, the colour of 
death. 

Blout-heved, T.N. Icel. blaiilr, soft ; hofiid., A.S. Jieafod, head. 

Bocke, Hundr. R. Icel. bokki, good-fellow ; cf. bokkr, buck. 

BOSSEY, Bosse, Hundr. R. Icel. bossi, Sw. btiss, a boy ; no 
doubt the original of the Americanism boss ("old boss"), 
which was evidently in common use in Lincolnshire in the 
thirteenth century. (See CI. and Vigf Diet, and Addenda.) 

Brand, Hundr. R. O.N. Brandr. 

Bret, Hundr. R. The Norsemen called Wales Bretland to dis- 
tinguish it from England ; Bret may be for Bretsk (Bjorn hin 
Bretske). 

Brice, I.N., Hundr. R. A name introduced by the Danes. See 
Bardsley, Eng. Surn., p. 30. 

Brocles, D.B. Cf Brocklesby ; diminutive of Brokkr. 

Brugwere, T.N. Dan. btygger, brewer ; Icel. brugga, to brew. 

Bunker, I.N. Icel. btmki, a convexity, a bunch ; Dan. bunke, heap. 

Busk, Hundr. R. Dan. busk, bush. 

Bussell, Hundr. R. Icel. btistl. bustle ; bjtstla, to bustle, to splash 
about, like a fish in the water. Bussell is also the Scandi- 
navian form of bushel. 

Bust, I.N. See Bust, supra. 

Chenut, Knut, Cnut, D.B. O.N. Kniitr. 

Chetel, D.B. O.N. Ketill. 

Clac, D.B. O.N. Klak, Klaka. 

Colgrim, D.B. O.N. Kol-grimr. 

Conyng, I.N. Perhaps curming, or it may be Icel. komaigr, A.S. 
cyftlg, Dutch, koning, king. 

COUPER, I.N. ; COWPEMAN, Hundr. R. ; Cowpman, T.N. Icel. 
kaup-ma'&r, Dan. kjobmand, Sw. kopman., a merchant ; from 
katipa, to buy. See Horse-COUPER, Glossary. There is a 
lane in Beverley called Coupan Kell ; Icel. kaupa and kelda, a 
well (Hold. Gl). Cf also Copmanthorpe, Yorkshire. 



APPENDIX. 309 

Crangel, Hundr. R. Dan. krangcl, quarrel. 

CUNDI, Hundr. R. Icel. kimdr, kinsman ; Dan. kunde, patron (?). 

Dane, Hundr. R. 

Darry, I.N. Icel. ddri, buffoon. See Ferg., E.S., p. 327. 

Daulin, I.N. Icel. ddligr (Dan. daarlig), bad, wretched. See 
D.WVLY, Glossary. 

Dory, Hundr. R., T.N. Icel. dorn\ a wether ; but perhaps from 
ddri. See stipra. 

DUBBER, I.N. Icel. dubba, to dub a knight ; diibba stk, to trim 
oneself. Most likely Dubber had the sense of dressing, deco- 
rating ; and in this sense diib is still used in Lincolnshire. See 
Glossary. Dubber, however, may be the corruption of Dauber. 

EiLAF, D.B., also AiLOF, Allef. O.N. Eylifr, Eilifr. 

Engrim, Hundr. R. O.N. Arngrim (.?). 

Erich, Eiric, D.B. O.N. Eirfkr. 

EscALD (Gerbaldus le), Hundr. R. Icel. skald, a poet. 

ESCULE, D.B. O.N. Skuli. Schooley is a common name in Lin- 
colnshire at the present day. Cf Sculcotes, Yorkshire, and 
Eculetot, Normandy. 

Fanchel, D.B. Icel. /(?;//, kctill (?). 

F.\TTiNG, Hundr. R. T>2cn.. fattig, poor (?). 

Fedde, I.N. Dan./67/, fat (?). 

Fin, D.B. O.N. Finnr. 

FiTEL, Hundr, R. Icel. jitl, fidgetty ; but very likely a form of 
Fidell, a very ancient Lincolnshire name. Fidell occurs in 
the Hundr. R. for Yorkshire. 

Flam, Flame, Hundr. R. Sw. T>.flam, a buffoon (?). 

G.A.BECOKY, Hundr. R. Icel. gapi, a heedless man ; Engl. gaby. 
The latter part, coky, looks like an early use of the diminutive 
cock J or possibly it is the original of the modern slang cocky. 

Gamyll, I.N. O.N. gamall, old ; A.S. gamol, gainel. 

Gamel, D.B., Hundr. R., T.N. 

Gardulf, D.B. O.N. GarSolfr. 

Case, Hundr. R. Icel. gas, Dan. gaas, a goose. Cf surname 
Gass. 

Gedelyng, I.N. O.E. gedelyng, gadelyng, an idle vagabond •,gad, 
to roam about idly, from lc&\.gadda, to drive about. Gadeling 
occurs in Hav. the Dane. 

Geek, Hundr. R., also Gyk, T.N. V)2ca..gjak^ a jester ; Icel. gikkr, 
a. pert, rude person. 



310 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

GiSiLL, I.N. Icel. gi's/, a hostage, a bailiff ^common as a proper 

name, Gi'sl and Gisli ; A.S. j^ise/, a pledge, a hostage. 
GODELEF, I.N. O.N. GviSleifr. 

GODESUAYNE, I.N. Icel.j^dif, good ; svcinn, a boy ; Engl, swain. 
GONCHETEL, D.B. O.N. Gunn-ketill. ' 

GouK, Hundr. R. See Gowk, Glossary, and Gokewell, Appen- 
dix I. 
GOWE, I.N. \z^. gygr, an ogress, witch; a word represented in 
Scotland by gowej or perhaps O.N. Goa, Landn. Gowe is 
probably an early form of the common Lincolnshire name Goy. 

Gra, I.N. Icel. grd}-, grey, spiteful ; Dan. graa; or perhaps from 
Icel. grey, a greyhound, not akin to grdr, grey. See Grew, 
Glossary. 

Grayne, I.N. lct\. gre? /I, a branch (J). See Grain, Glossary.. 

Grill, I.N. O.^. gryla, an ogre, bugbear (.?). 

Grim, D.B. O.N. Gn'mr. 

Grimbald, D.B., T.N. O.N. and Germ. Grimbold, Grimbald. 

Grissop, I.N. O.N. griss, a young pig. Perhaps a local name, 
Grishop. In Hundr. R. for Yorkshire we find Le Gris as a 
surname. 

GUDMUND, D.B. O.N. Gu^mundr. 

GUNNE, I.N. O.N. Gunnr. 

GUNYLD, also GONYL, I.N., GuNNELL, T.N. O.N. fem. Gun-hildr» 

Gyk, I.N. See Geek, supra. 

Hak, Hundr. R., Hake, I.N. Icel. hdkr, a fish ; an O.N. nick- 
name. See Hakes, Glossary. 

Haco, Hundr. R. O.N. Ha-kon ; a family name in the old house 
of the Norse kings (CI. and Vigf Diet.). 

Haldene, D.B. O.N. Halfdene. 

H amino, D.B. O.N. Hemingr. 

Hamond, I.N. O.N. Ha-mundr. 

Hary I.N. O.N. Ari (Ari hinn Sterki, Annales Islandici) (.?). 

Herre, I.N. Icel. licri, a hare (?). 

Hest, I.N. Icel. hcstr, a stallion, a steed. 

Hulverenheved. O.E. hulver, holly, from Icel. hulfr^ dogwood- 
See Chapter xii. Htilvergate. 

Ingelrame, I.N. O.N. Ingj-aldr, and Icel. rainr, strong. 

Ingulf, D.B. O.N. Ingolfr. 

Jalf, D.B. O.N. Jadulfr. 

Kergarth, I.N. Apparently a local name, Kirkgarth. 



APPENDIX. 311 

Ketelbert, T.N. O.N. Ketil-bjartr. 

Knot, I.N. See Chenut. 

Knut, D.B. See Chenut. 

KoTELBERTUs, D.B. See Ketelbert. 

Kynk, I.N. Sw. Norw. kink, a twist in a rope. Allied to Icel. 
kikna, to sink at the knees, through a heavy burden ; also to 
keikr, bent backwards, the belly jutting forwards. (See CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). Kikr was a nickname amongst the Norsemen. 
Perhaps, however, the name Kyjik may be from O.N. kinka^ 
to nod archly with the head, connected with kcngr = kink. 

Lade (John de la), Hundr. R. Dan. Az^^^?, Icel. ///^iS, a barn. See 
lathe. Glossary. 

Lelle, I.N. Dan. lille, little. Lill is a very common Lincolnshire 
name at the present day. 

Lefsi, D.B. Diminutive of O.N. Leifr, Leif. Livesey is a very old 
Lincolnshire family name. 

Leir (Hug. de), Hundr. R. Icel. Icir, clay. See remarks on Kirkby 
Laythorpe, Chapter ix. 

Leofric, D.B., Leuric, D.B. O.N. Leofric. 

Lesinc, D.B. Icel. leysingr, a freedman, landlouper. See remarks 
on Leasingham. 

Leveryk, I.N. See Leofric. 

LiGULF, D.B. O.N. Lagulfr. See Lawress, Chapter xii. 

Lothen, Hundr. R. O.N. LoSinn, from lo'Sinn, shaggy. 

Lyfrick, Hundr. R. See Leofric. 

Mugge, Mugger, I.N. O.N. IMogr, from nwg7;a. youth. 

Munne, I.N. O.N. Munnr, a nickname from miainr, mouth. 

Myols, I.N. O.N. MjoU (female name, Lajidn.) (?). See Ferg., 
E.S., p. 301. 

Norman, D.B. O.N. NorSmaSr, a Norwegian, or a Scandina- 
vian generally. (See CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

Odincarl, D.B. O.N. OSinn, karl. 

Olive, Hundr. R. O.N. OlAfr. 

Orm, D.B. O.N. Ormr. 

Ormchetel, D.B. O.N. Orm-ketill. 

Oudon, D.B. O.N. Au«unn (?). 

OUTI, D.B. ; OUTY, Hundr. R. O.N. Outi. 

Pentrer, I.N. \ct\. pcfttari, pcfiturr, ■ps.miQY. 

Rafne, T.N. O.N. Hrafn. 

Rauff, I.N. See Rolf. 



12 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 



ROLD, D.B. O.N. Hro-aldr. 

Rolf, D.B. O.N. Hrolfr (qs. Hr6«-ulfr ; Ger. Rudolph ; Eng. 
Ralph). 

Ros, I.N. Icel. hross, a horse. 

ROULFE, T.N. See Rolf. 

Scarp, Hundr. R. Icel. skarpr, sharp, pinched, etc. 

SCHARF, Hundr. R. O.N. Skarfrii.e. cormorant), nickname. The 
cormorant is still called the Scarf in Shetland. 

SCEMUND, D.B. O.N. Saemundr. 

SCORTRATH, I.N. Icel. skort^ short ; ra'S, counsel. 

Scut, I.N. Icel. skutr, stern. See scut^ Glossary. 

SlWARD, D.B. O.N. SivariSr. 

Skat, I.N. O.N. Skati (a lordly man), nickname (?). 

Skegge, I.N. O.N. Skeggi. 

Skepper, I.N. This may either be connected with skcp, a 
measure (Icel. skeppa, Dan. skjeppe) ; or it may be skeppare, 
the Swedish form of skipper {skep, a ship). 

Skyte, I.N. Icel. sky//, an archer, marksman ; or skitr; hardly 
from skjotr, swift, preserved in the English surname Skeat. 

Sortebrand, D.B. O.N. Svart-brandr. 

SOTA, D.B. O.N. Soti. 

Sperri, D.B. O.N. Sporr, nickname ; Icel. sporr, sparrow. 

Spille, D.B. O.N. Spillir. 

Stagg, I.N. See Glossary. 

Stangrim, D.B. O.N. Stein-grimr. 

Stithe, I.N. Icek ste^i, an anviL 

Stoyte, I.N. Icel. stiiir, a bull ; Eng., stoat, siot. Thus stoit 
and stot alike = an awkward clown, in Holderness (see 
Hold. Gl.). 

Straker, I.N. Icel. strdkr, a vagabond. 

SUARRY, I.N. Icel. S7'arrz, proud woman (?). 

SUMMERLED, D.B. O.N. Sumar-liSi. 

SvAN, D.B. O.N. Svanr. 

SVAIN, D.B. O.N. Sveinn. 

SwEYN, T.N. See Svain. 

SwiP, Hundr. R. Icel. svzpa, to flash, dart ; svipr, a swift move- 
ment ; Norw. sinpa, to run swiftly. Swip would be the Early 
English form of our word squib. (See Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 

Takel, T.N. Dan. takkel ; M.E. takelj Eng. tackle. 

Thurgis, Turgis, D.B. O.N. phorgils. 



APPENDIX. 313 

Thurmod, D.B. O.N. por-moiSr. 

Thurstan, D.B. O.N. por-steinn. 

TOCHI, D.B., TOK, TOKE, TUKE, Hundr. R. O.N. Toki. 

TOLI, D.B. O.N. Toll. 

Tor, D.B. O.N. porn 

TORALDUS, T.N. O.N. por-aldr, or por-valdr. 

Tori, D.B. O.N. porey (fem.). 

TORIF, D.B. O.N. porolfr. 

Torketel, D.B. O.N. porketill, porkell. 

Toui, D.B. ; Tovi, T.N. O.N. Tofi. 

Trig, Hundr. R. Icel. tryggr, trusty, faithful ; Dan. tryg^ secure. 

Trip, I.N. Dan. trippe, Sw. trippa, to trip, tread lightly. 

TuRCHiL, D.B. See Torketel. 

TuRGis, D.B. See Thurgis. 

TuROLD, D.B. See Toraldus. 

TURPIN, Hundr. R. O.N. por-finnr. 

Tyffer, I.N. Icel. ti^fja, Dan. fa-vc, a bitch (.?). 

Ulchel, Ulchil, D.B. O.N. Ulf-ketill. 

Ulf, D.B., I.N. O.N. Ulfr. 

Ulfchetel, D.B. See Ulchel. 

Ulm^r, D.B. O.N. Ulf-maer. 

U'luric, D.B. O.N. Ulf-rikr. 

Walde, T.N. O.N. Valdi, Valdr. 

Wildehaver, Hundr. R. {i.e. Wild oats). Icel. hqfrar, Dan. havre, 

oats. 
Wrling, Hundr. R. O.N. Erlingr (diminutive oijarl, an earl). 
Ytarling Hundr. R. Cf. Icel. j//'/, ?^/«rr, outer. 



GLOSSARY. 



In appending this Glossarj-, no pretence whatever is made to 
completeness ; the compiler can lay no claim either to the learning, 
or to opportunities of gathering material, necessary for anything 
approaching to completeness in such a work, and the present 
attempt, such as it is, is put forward with the greatest possible 
diffidence. In the preparation, a careful comparison has been made 
between the Glossaries of Lincolnshire and those of many other 
districts, while special stress has been laid on the correspondence 
between the dialect of Lincolnshire, on the one hand, and those of 
Scotland and Cleveland on the other. The following pages, dealing 
with the surviving traces of the Danish language, will be found 
throughout to be deeply indebted to the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, Vicar 
of Danby, author of a Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect, and to 
Dr. Jamieson's great work upon the Scotch language, of which a 
new edition has lately appeared. It may be further added that 
Mr. Peacock's Manley and Corringham Glossary, while supplying 
more reliable provincialisms than could be obtained from any 
other source, has also proved invaluable on account of that ac- 
curacy of definition, which forms so important a feature in the 
work. These definitions have always, when possible, been adopted 
in the following Glossary. 

Some words of Scandinavian origin, given by Mr. Peacock, 
Mr. Atkinson and others, have been omitted from these pages, 
because admittedly words of recognized, if not general, use in the 
English language. Such are, e.g. blink, clip, cow (subdue), dazed, 
hale (drag), etc., etc. Words, however, which, as used in Lincoln- 



GLOSSARY. 3 1 5 

shire, show any meaning distinct from the ordinary sense, and 
akin to Danish, have been admitted. It is needless, perhaps, to 
add that a hxrge number of provinciaHsms are represented equahy 
in the German and Scandinavian languages. These have been 
excluded, except in cases where considerations point, with greater 
or less probability, to Danish influence. 

Aback = behind. The prefix may simply be the abbreviated on 
(A.S. onbac), as in asleep, aright, away (see M. Muller's 
Science of Language, 2nd series, Lect. i.) ; but, on the other 
hand, it may, as Mr. Atkinson suggests (CI. Gl.), be Icelandic 
d bak, which is used both as a prep, and adverbially (CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). See Jam. 

Addle = to earn. Icel. dSlask, to gain as property ; cf. A.S. 
cedledn, a reward. 

Addlins = earnings. See Addle. 

After-burden = after-birth. See CI. Gl. after-birth j cf. Dan. 
efter-hyrd, O.Sw. eftcrbord, Icel. efti7'bur^r. 

Agait = having begun, underway, e.g. "to get a gait o' coughing." 
See Gait, Gate ; and see Jam. 

All-gates = all means. Cf. Icel. alla-gotii, always. CI. and 
Vigf. V>'\qX. gata. See also Stratman, _o-fl:/£'/ allegatc is used in 
Life of Thomas a Becket, circ. 1300. 

Angry = inflamed. Anger is a loan word from Scandinavia (see 
Skeat, Etym. Diet.). O.N. ajigr, grief; O.Sw. dngra, sorrow, 
pain, anguish (see CL GL). 

Ask or Hask = harsh to the senses, e.g. of ale, wind, sound. 
Perhaps this is but a local pronunciation of harsh, which is 
a Scand. loan word (Dan. iiarsk). See Skeat, Etym. Diet. 
It may, however, represent Icel. heskr — haughty, harsh. The 
fact that heskr = hastr removes all difficulty from change of 
vowel. CI. and Vigf. derive our hask in one place from hdski, 
danger, and in another from heskr. Jam. has harsk, which he 
connects with Isl. kashir. See CI. and Vigf Diet, karskr, 
pron. kaskr. 

At = which ; rel. pron. Cf Icel. at, indeclin. rel. pron. See CI. 
and Vigf Diet. 

Back-cast = relapse in sickness. Mr. Atkinson (CI. GL, p. 12) 
points out that this is a Norse construction : " The Scandi- 
navian tongues are rich in compound nouns, of which the 



3l6 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

first is a preposition." This construction is very common in 

Lincolnshire provinciahsms, e.j^. /orc-enc/, /ar-e/id, iiitack, etc. 

See Jam., Back-cast. 
Back-end = autumn ; also, hinder-part. Cf. Dan. bagende and 

forendc, back part and fore part. See CI. Gl. and Jam. 
Bairn or Barn = child. Icel. and Dan. barn., A.S. beam. The 

words "bairnish," "bairnless," etc., are also in use. See Jam. 
Bairn, vb. = to beget or conceive. Icel. barna, to get with child. 

See CI. Gl. 
Bakston = an iron plate with bow, by which to hang it ; used 

for baking tea-cakes, etc. Icel. bakstr-jarn, an iron plate for 

baking sacramental wafers. See CI. Gl., p. 25 ; CI. and Vigf. 

Diet., p. 50 ; Cr. D., Backstonc. 
Balk or Bauk (various meanings, two radical ideas being 

present — (i) wooden beam ; (2) division). Icel. bdlkr and A.S. 

balca, cover the many shades of meaning which this word has 

in Lincolnshire. See the word discussed in Skeat's Etym. 

Diet., where, however, its origin is taken to be English. Cf. 

Dan. bjcelke, a beam ; Sw. balk. See also remarks on bauk 

in Jam. and CI. Gl. The full variety (no less than eight) of 

meanings which this word bears in Lincolnshire will be found 

in M. and C. Gl., p. 17. 
Band = string. Icel. band, Dan. baand, cord. So CI. Gl. See 

Jam. " band = rope or tie by which black cattle are fastened to 

the stake." 
Baron or Barren = a cow's womb. Sw. D. bardne. See CI. 

GL, p. 31. See also Jam. under birji; but he certainly gives 

an erroneous derivation. 
Barf. See p. 174. 
Beal = to low as an ox, to shout. Icel. bcija, to bellow ; Dan. 

D. bcclla, A.S. bellan, to make a loud noise. See CI. Gl. 
Bee-Bee = bye-bye ; a lullaby. Icel. bi-bi. See CI. Gl. and Cr. D. 
Belder = to roar. Cf. beal. Icel. belja. This appears the most 

probable origin, though Mr. Atkinson suggests others (CI. GL, 

P- 39)- 

Bellywark = colic. Xc^.verkja., to feel pain ; verkr, pain. See 
CI. and Vigf. Diet. " North E. wark in head-wark, belly- 
wark, etc. ; Dan. vcerk?' 

Best = to get the better of; most often used of cheating. This 
is most likely a peculiar provincial form of the better known 



GLOSSARY. 317 

baste — to beat, from I eel. beysfa, to beat ; Sw. bosta^ to thum]). 
See Skeat, Etym. Diet. ; see, too, baist and best (Jam.), who also 
gives bested — overwhelmed, which he inclines to take as of 
different origin, though he hesitates to identify it with bestead, 
which is the Dan. bestedt = distressed. See Skeat, Etym. Diet. 

Betterness = improvement in health. Su. G. bccttra is used in 
this sense.~ Icel. bcetta, to improve, is also used absolutely of 
restoration to health ; cf. also Icel. batna, to get better ; and 
bat}icx&r^ convalescence. Bettirness is used in a similar sense 
in Scotland (see Jam.). 

BiNG = bin, a box to hold corn. Dan. bing, binge, a bin or hutch. 
There is an Icelandic word, bingr = a heap of corn, but this 
appears to be unconnected. The ordinary word bin is A.S. 
biim, a manger (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.), and it is possible 
that the Lincolnshire bi7ig is only a vulgarized form of the 
English word. 

Blaring = lowing of oxen, also senseless talk. Icel. blcr&ra, to 
talk thick, to utter inarticulate sounds, to bleat as a sheep 
(CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; see also bia^r — nonsense. Probably the 
same word as blather and blether, qu. v. Jamieson, however, 
derives from Teut. blaeren, mugire. Skeat, Etym. Diet., gives 
M.H.G. bleren, to cry aloud. 

Blaze = a white mark on a horse's face. Icel. blesi has exactly 
this meaning. 

Blather. See Blare and Blether. 

Blendcorn = rye and wheat mixed. Dan. blandekotm or 
blandifig kornj Sw. D. blandkorii, mixed rye and oats. Mr. 
Atkinson (CI. Gl. p. 52) observes, "This is one of the multi- 
tude of purely Scandinavian words, which remain in use in 
our district." See Jam. blanded bear. 

Blether, vb. - to weep loudly. See Blare. 

Blether = noisy talk, the lowing of a calf See Blare. 

Bole = the stem of a tree. Icel. bolr, biilr, the trunk of a tree ; 
Sw. bdl, Dan. bid. Bole is almost exclusively used in Lincoln- 
shire for the trunk of a tree. 

BOLLED = corn in the ear ; cf. Exod. ix. 31. This obsolete English 
word, still used in Lincolnshire, is of Scandinavian origin (see 
Skeat, Etym. Diet.). Icel. bolginti, swollen ; Dan. bnllen. 
Connecting links are found in Scotch boldin, to swell ; also 
boldin or bouldeii, swelled ; bolgan, a swelling (see Jam.). 



3l8 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Boon = to repair a highway. Mr. Atkinson takes this to be Icel. 
bon, A.S. ben, Dan. bdn, a petition ; and explains it as an 
euphuistic description of a necessary service (CI. GL). Perhaps 
the ancient Scotch word, boit, borrowed {i.e. begged, and so 
obtained), may throw additional light upon the way in which 
boon accjuired its present provincial sense. The boon-fnaster, 
i.e. road-surveyor, certainly had to borrow carts for his purpose 
(see boon-days, M. and C. Gl.) ; and in like manner, he may 
have had to beg his material from those whose property was 
traversed by the road. Jamieson quotes the Scotch proverb, 
" He that trusts to bon ploughs, will have his land lye lazy." 
There was a spot called Bonplowes near Stockwith ; it is 
mentioned in C.I., 28 Edward L N.B. boon is a Scandinavian 
loan word, according to Professor Skeat ; but this is one of 
his etymologies disputed by Mr. Wedgewood, who would derive 
boon from French bon, used in an archaic sense, i.e. good 
pleasure, desire. 

BoRTREE, BURTREE = the elder tree. So Jam., CI. GL, and 
Cr. D. Mr. Atkinson beheves the word to be of Scandinavian 
origin, and suggests an Old Danish word from Icel. bora, a 
hole. But in CI. and Vigf. Diet, we find '•'• borr, a kind of 
tree ; " also, " borr, a borer, metaph. the pipe of a marrow-bone ; 
(2) a less correct form of borrJ'' 

Bowk = belly. Dan. btig, Sw. bnk, belly. See also Jam. buik = 
body, but he gives no derivation ; and cf. bi/ge, to bulge out 
(Hold. Gl.). 

Brade of = to be like a person. One of the meanings of the 
comprehensive Icelandic word bregma is exactly similar. See 
CI. Gl. ; also Jam. and Cr. D. ; see also CI. and Vigf Diet., 

p. 77. 

Brameberries = blackberries (Brogden). Dan. brom-brcer and 
brani-ba;r, Sw. \brom-bdr, Ger. brom-bccre, A.S. bremel, 
brenibcl. 

Brant = fussy, consequential. Icel. brattr, steep (so Icel. stuttr 
is Eng. stunt) ; bera bratt halan, to cany the tail high, in 
mod. usage, vera brattr (see CI. and Vigf) ; here we have 
exactly the Lincolnshire sense. Mr. Atkinson quotes from 
Dan. D., " Hvor den dreng brenter," " how that lad puffs him- 
self out." See Jam. brent, high, straight ; also brank. There 
is also Dan. brante, to brag. 



GLOSSARY. 319 

Brash = rubbish, nonsense. Icel. breyskr, brittle ; but more 
generally used by metaphor of moral feebleness. See CI. and 
Vigf. Diet, CI. Gl. ; and see brash (Jam.). 

Bray =: to pound in a mortar. Sw. D. brdj'a, to bruise flax ; see 
CI. Gl. But Prof. Skeat derives from O. French breier, brehierj 
mod. Fr. broycr. See Etym. Diet. 

Bray = edge of bank, ditch, etc. Icel. bra, A.S. brcg and brcew, 
an eyebrow. So Icel. brim, bryn, eyebrow, is used to express 
bnnk. See Jam. bra = side of a hill ; brcc = eyebrow. 

Brazil = hard. This is usually connected with the hardness of a 
Brazil nut ; but may it not rather be traced to Icel. brasa, to 
harden in the fire, the original of our English braze? See 
Skeat, Etym. Diet. In this case brazil would be but a pro- 
vincial form of brazen in its moral sense of hardened. 

Breadloaf = loaf of bread. Icel. brai^-hleifr (see CI. and Vigf. 
Diet., CI. GL). 

Brimming. Icel. breyma. See Jam. breem. 

Brod = a round-headed nail. Icel. broddr, a spike ; Jam. brod. 

Brod = to prick. Cf. second meaning of Icel. broddr, the sting 
of an insect. 

Brussen = burst. Icel. bresta, pp. brostiim; Dan. bri/sfen, A.S. 
borstctt. Brusse7i guts — a greedy person. Brussen-belly Thurs- 
day = Maunday Thursday. Brusting Saturday = Saturday 
before Shrove Tuesday, on which day frying-pan pudding is 
eaten (Brogden). Thus in Iceland, Shrove Tuesday is called 
spretigi-kveld = bursting-eve (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). So, too, 
in Norway, fed-Tirsday = Shrove Tuesday ; fed = fat. Cf. 
Cr. D. brosten. Jam. brust. See also kite, stomach (Hold. 
Gl.) ; rive-kite Sunday is the Sunday in Martinmas week, a 
holiday time, and a time of excess. 

Buck = a smartly dressed young man. Cf. use of Icel. bokki, in 
its original sense probably a he-goat, but used as a familiar 
mode of address. Cf buckie ruff, a giddy boy, or romping 
girl (Jam.). There is a Lincolnshire provincialism, butty — mate, 
which may be a corruption of buckie or bokki. 

Bug = officious, proud. Cf Icel. bji'igr, tumor, and bji'igr, bowed, 
bent ; A.S. bi'tgan, to bend ; Dan. bugne, to bulge ; bugner 
convexity ; also cf Dan. bzig, belly, and bugct, big-bellied. 
Bug was very early a surname in Yorkshire. Cf to buge — to 
bulge out, to become distended (Hold. GL). 



320 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

BuLKER = a workman's shop, half above and half below the street ; 
a beam, a counter. I eel. bdlkr^ a beam ; see balk, and cf. 
Skeat, Etym. Diet. ^^ bulk (3), the stall of a shop."' 

Bunt = the tail of a rabbit. Cf. Dan. biiiidt, Sw. bunt^ a bunch. 
See Jam. biini in the same sense, but he connects it with Gael. 
bimdiai, the fundament, or Belg. bout, fur, skin. 

Busk = a bunch, e.g. of flowers (Brogden). Dan. busk, Sw. buske, 
a. bush, shrub. The word busk has been introduced from the 
Scandinavian tongue into the English ; and, as in many words 
thus introduced, the k has been softened into //. The Lincoln- 
shire bzisk preserves the original form. Cf. Jam. busk. Bosc 
is constantly found in the local names of Normandy; cf. 
Bosky Dike in Lincolnshire. 

Cake, A = a silly person, especially one fat and sluggish. Possibly 
from Icel. kaggi, a keg. Kaggi was used as a nickname, and 
is the origin of our kedge-bellied (qu. v.). Kaggf^\^\. easily 
become cake in an Anglo-Danish population, through the close 
resemblance of Dan. kage, cake, to kaggc, keg. 

Cam = matter, corruption (Brogden). Icel. kain = grime, film of 
dirt. This is the West Eng. keem = scum on cider ; Germ. 
kahm, keiin (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

Canny = knowing. Icel. kuunigr, Su. G. kumiog — wise. So 
Mr. Atkinson, CI. Gl. See also kauna, to search, to find out, 
to recognize ; also kenna, to know. But see Jam. canny. 

Car = low, unenclosed land, etc. See Chapter ix. 

Casson = cow-dung. Icel. k'ds — a little heap ; kasa, to pile in a 
heap. In mod. Dan. ko-kase = cow-droppings ; kasc = excre- 
ment. " Cow-cassons, until the time of the enclosures, supplied 
the poor with a great part of their fuel. They were dried in 
the summer and stacked for winter use " (M. and C. GL, p. 49), 
See also Brogden, p. 36. 

Catch = a small river boat. Icel. kafi, "a kind of small ship, a 
cat ; " so CI. and Vigf., who derive Caithness from this word. 

Calf, pron. Cauf = a cowardly or silly fellow. This agrees with 
Icel. kd//r = a silly person. Observe that cau/ preserves the 
accented d. 

Chap = the jaw, also, impertinence. Icel. kjaptr{pt pron.y?), jaw ; 
Sw. kdft, Dan. kjcvft. The transition from jaw to impertinence 
is very natural ; cf. " Noo then, none of thy chap " (M. and 
C. Gl., p. 53), with Icel '' halda kjapli," Dan. " hold kjcefi;' 



GLOSSARY. 32 r 

"hold your noise." Prof. Skcat (Etym. Diet.) says that chaps is 
a South England variety of North England chafls, chaff's ; cf. 
Scotch y«^^, to make a noise with the jaws in eating ; Iccl. 
kjapta (Jam.). See also Wedgewood's Contested Etymologies, 
chap, a fellow. 

Champ = to chew. Sw. D./cainsa, to chew with difficulty ; cf, Icel. 
fcjaptr. So Skeat, Etym. Diet. But Jamieson gives '•''Kampa, 
mastigare, Haldorson." There is also an Icelandic word 
kampa, to devour ; but this is connected with kampr, a beard. 

Cheep = the cry of a young bird, Sw. D. }dp\ to pipe or squeak ; 
of chickens, etc. (see Cl. Gl.). Jam. {cheip) gives Icel. keipa, 
to fret as a child, for which word see Cl. and Vigf. Diet. 

Clag = to dirt, to muddy ; Clags = dirt sticking to clothes, also 
dirty wool cut from sheep. Dan. klcsg, kleg, clay. Sec Jam. 
io clag; also clog (Skeat, Etym. Diet.). Dan klceg is also used 
as adj., loamy. So also klccget = clayey, with which cf. Scotch 
claggit = clogged. 

Clap = to pat. Icel. klappa, to pat ; so used, too, in Scotland, 
Cleveland, etc. 

Clapperclaw = to attack with finger nails. Much the same 
meaning attaches to this term in Cleveland and in Scotland. 
This word may possibly be a combination of klappa (which, 
besides meaning to pat or stroke, is used of chopping and ham- 
mering), and klor, a scratching ; cf. Mora, to scratch like a 
cat ; Dan. klore, to scratch with the nails. So also Mr. 
Atkinson, CI. GL, p. loi. It is perhaps possible that clapper- 
claw stands for clap and claw. 

Clat (among other meanings) (i) anything sticky or dirty ; also 
vb., to bedaub ; (2) silly talk ; (3) trifle, a small article. 
Possibly the word which would most easily account for the 
varying use of clat is Dan. klat = a piece of ground ; a blot, 
a bit, or trifle {klat-gjccld, petty debts). The verb klatte = to 
dab, to blot ; klattct-uld — clotted wool ; klatte sine Penge bort 
= to spend one's money uselessly, with which we may compare 
useless fidget {clatting about), which is one of the meanings of 
the Lincolnshire clat; cf. also Icel. klatr = clatter, toy, trifle. 

Claum = to paw about or touch with dirty hands, and so 
begrime. Icel. kleima, to smear (akin to kldtn, filthy language)' ; 
A.S. clcemian, to daub. 

Clauming = sticky. 

Y 



322 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Claw = to scratch. Icel. Ida, to scratch (of a place that itches), 
or perhaps more hkely from Icel. klora, to scratch like a cat, 
for this is the sense in which the word is used in Lincolnshire. 
In this case it should be written clore ; cf. Dan. klore, to 
scratch with the nails. 
Cleg = a gad-fly. Icel. Jdcggi, Dan. khrg, horse-fly. See Jam., CI. 

Gl., etc. 
Cletch = a brood of young domesticated birds. Icel. klekja, to 

hatch ; Dan. khrkkc, Sw. kidcka. See dck (Jam.). 
Cled = to cover ; used in the phrase, to cled /he trays, i.e. to cover 
sheep trays with straw, for the purpose of protecting the lambs 
during the lambing season. Icel. klaf&a, Dan. klccde, Sw. 
kldda, to clothe. See Jam. deed. 
Cloof = hoof. Icel. klai/f, Su. G. klof, a cloven foot. See Jam. 

clitf, ehtif. 
Clot = clod. Icel. klot, the knob on a sword-hilt. Dan. klode, a 
ball. In Middle English clof, elotte — a ball, esp. of earth 
(see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). English clodis of Danish origin ijclode), 
and clot seems to be the survival of Icel. klot or Sw. klot. 
Cluck = (i) noise of hen calling her chickens or desiring to sit. 
Icel. klbk, the chirping of birds ; Dan. klukke, identical in 
meaning with cluck. Chick is a variant of clack, Icel. klaka, 
to chatter. 
Cluck = (2) noise made by children when going to sleep. This 
meaning of the word may rather be connected with Icel. 
klbkkva, to sob, to whine (A.S. cloccan) ; klokkr, crying faintly. 
Clumpst = morose, clumsy, benumbed with cold. Dan. Sw. 
Mump, lump, log, clump ; cf. Icel. kliimba, a club {klumbu- 
fotr — club-foot). Clump has been admitted into English 
from Scandinavia. See Skeat (Etym. Diet.), who says "not 
in A.S.," but Bosworth has clymp, lumpish, which comes very 
near to the meaning of clumpst. 
Cobble-stone = round pebble ; also, boulder. Cl. and Vigf. 
connect this word with Icel. kbppu-stemn,a. boulder ; but Prof. 
Skeat makes cobble a diminutive of Celtic cob, a round lump. 
But see Atkinson (Cl. GL), who gives N./t^//^/, a cobble-stone, 
Sw. D. kobbel. 
COCKELTY = unsteady, rickety. Scotch coggly, kugglie (see Jam.), 
and cockly (Cleveland), form connecting links between this 
word and Dan. kugle, a ball. See Cl. Gl. cockly. 



GLOSSARY. 323 

Cock-eye = one who squints. Perhaps connected with Icel. kaga, 
to bend forward and peep ; O.E. kyke, vScotch keck. Cf. also 
Icel. kogla, to goggle ; and kogla, diminutive of kaga, to ogle. 
We also find Su. G. kox-a, attentis oculis observare. 

Cod = pillow (obsolete). Icel. koddi, a pillow. See Jam. 

Cog = a boat formerly used on Humber and Ouse. Icel. kuggr, 
Su. G. kogg, Dan. kog. This is identical with cock-boat, and 
the Scandinavian words, as above, appear to be modifications 
of Cornish coc, Welsh cwc (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). St. 
Mary cogge was reputed to be the best ship of the town of 
Raveneserodd, ic?iip. Edward III. See History of Holderness, 
vol. ii. p. 532 (G. Poulson), who spells cogge with a capital C, 
as if it were part of the ship's name. 

Cool = a lump, or swelling on the head. Icel. kiila, a ball, a knob ; 
Sw. D. kid, lump ; Sw. kida. See CI. and Vigf. Diet. '* marka 
kulur i hof&i, to make balls in one's head, i.e. to beat soundly." 
So kulu-bakr — humpback. This word is, according to CI. 
and Vigf, German kiigcl, Dan. kiigle. 

Crack = to curdle, said of milk in possets. So Icel. krakka, to 
emit a cracking sound, to simmer ; cf A. 8. cearcia?t. 

Creel = an osier basket for carrying fish. Icel. krili, a small 
basket. See CI. Gl. creel, Jam. creil. 

Crew = a great lot, whether of men or things. See. M. and C. Gl. 
O. Icel. kni, a swarm ; kri'ea, to swarm. See Skeat, Etym. Diet, 
where it will be seen that the English word crew is of strictly 
Norse origin. See also in CI. and Vigf Diet, grid, a crowd 
or swarm ; griia, to swarm, which are more modern forms. 

Crew or Crew- yard = a bedded fold for cattle. Icel. /tJ, a small 
pen ; in Iceland, the pen in which lambs, when weaned, are 
put during the night. Kroa, to pen in a kro. Kroa lovtb, to 
pen lambs (see CI. and Vigf Diet.). Dan. kro, a tavern. See 
croo, a stye ; also, hovel (Jam.). Under croy or cro (with quite 
another meaning). Dr. Jam., however, mentions Gael, croo, 
sheep-fold or cow-pen. 

Crick = a crevice. Both in sound and sense, this is nearer Icel. 
kriki = crack or nook {haiidar-kriki, the armpit), than A.S. 
crecca, a creek. 
■ CUSH, CUSH, CUSH-A-COW = the call for a cow. Also, in children's 
language, = cow. Icel. kussa, a cow (a colloquial diminiitive), 
kussi — calf or bullock. Kus, kus / cow, cow ! the milkmaid's 
call. 



324 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Daff = damp, clammy. I eel. dcigr, doughy, damp, wet ; deig, 
dough ; cf. A.S. dali^ dough. 

Daffing = jesting. Cf. Scotch to daff, to be foolish, make sport, 
etc.; daffing^ merry. See Jam., who derives daff ixovcs. Icel. 
daufr, date/, dauft, insipidus ; Su. G. doef, stupidus. CI. and 
Vigf. admit a metaphorical use of daifff, but fail to point out 
in what sense ; also in modern use dau/r = without savour. 
See also daufligr. 

Dawl = to weary. Icel. dvala, to delay ; d7'bl, delay ; Dan. dvale 
lethargy ; dz'czle, to linger. 

Deary = very small. See Atkinson, CI. Gl., doory, deary, which 
he connects with Icel. dvcrgr, dwarf ; but it may be equally 
from A..S. dz/eorg. 

Dill = to soothe. Icel. dilla, to trill, to lull. Jam. suggests also 
as an alternative origin A.S. dilg-ia7i, delere. 

Ding = to strike. Icel. dengja, to hammer, and so whet a scythe ; 
Dan. da-nge, to strike. But Prof. Skeat describes ding as 
a true English strong verb, though not found in A..S. 

Dither, Duther = to shake with cold. Icel. titra, to shake. So 
Atkinson, CI. Gl. Possibly, however, it may be connected 
with dyja, p. dt't^i (mod. di'/a), to shake, to quiver. 

Doit = a jot, a tittle. IceL dot, trumpery, trifle (see CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). Dan. doit = a dump, a bit. "/eg bryder inig 
ikke 671 doit dero7n" " I don't care a bit about it." But Jam. 
and Skeat derive the English word doit, a small coin, from 
Dutch diiit. 

Dolly = a washing tub in the form of a barrel. Can this be from 
Norse dola, a groove-formed trough .'' Cf. also dcehi-ker, a 
kind of bucket. See CI. and Vigf. Diet. dala. 

Dotterel = a dotard. Icel. dotta, to nod from sleep ; dottr = 
a nodder. The dotterel is so-called from the ease with which 
it is caught. 

DOWK = to duck, or drench with water. Dan. dukkc, to dive ; 
Sw. dyka, O. Sw. ditka, to press under. But see Skeat, to 
duck, to dive. He gives the origin as English, though the 
word is not found in A.S. ; but German has taiiche7i, and the 
word occurs in M.E. as d7ike7i and donke/i ; cf. also Jam. 
doitk = duck ; doukar = water-fowl. So dab-chick = dop-chick, 
from A.S. doppa, to dip ; dop-c}iicke7i is the provincial term 
in Lincolnshire for dab-chick. 



GLOSSARY. 325 

DOWLY = weak, low-spirited. Icel. ddligr, Dan. daarlig, bad, 
wretched (of a person). 

Draff = grains of malt left after brewing ; dregs, rubbish. Icel. 
draf, husks ; Dan. drav, dregs ; Dutch, draf. hogwash ; Sw. D. 
drav = hogwash. (See Atkinson CI. Gl.) Prof. Skeat, how- 
ever, takes the word as introduced from the Dutch. 

Drape = a cow or ewe whose milk is gone, worthless for the purpose 
of breeding. Mr. Atkinson suggests that the radical idea in this 
word is that of the milk coming very slowly, drop by drop ; 
Icel. drjupa, A.S. dn'pati, Dan. draabe. From Brockett (Glos- 
sary of N. Country Words), and H alii well, however, it would 
seem that the radical idea is worthlessness. Brockett defines 
drape sheep as " oves rejiculas." Halliwell, " drape, a barren 
cow or ewe ; drape sheep, the refuse sheep of a flock." It may be 
allowable to suggest another derivation, which seems at least 
as probable as Mr. Atkinson's. Seeing that, as a matter of 
fact, drape animals are " culled " to fatten for the butcher, as 
being of no use for breeding purposes, may not drape be rather 
connected with Icel. (^^'n//, slaughter ? Cf. rf'riy/r, that which 
may be killed with impunity ; cf. also Icel. drepa, to slay 
{drepa af= to slaughter cattle). A.S. drepaft, to strike ; drepe, 
slaying, may perhaps have equal claims with the Icelandic 
words. For this use and sense of drape we should find a 
parallel in Norvv. slagt, a beast (to be killed), from slagie, to 
kill, with which cf Icel. s/ag-a, slaga-san^r, an ewe, a sheep to 
be slaughtered.^ 

' The origin of the word hog, as applied to a young sheep, is extremely 
obscure. The Craven Glossary suggests A. S. hogaii, to take heed ; 
Wedgwood lakes it to be the Dutch hok, a pen. These are dismissed by 
Mr. Atkinson (CI. Gl.), but only for another derivation scarcely more 
probable. If we examine the various definitions given of hog in different 
Glossaries, we shall see how frequently the idea of shearing is introduced [e.g. 
seeM. and C. (il., Brogden, Halliwell, Jamieson), the word generally mean- 
ing (to adopt the definition given by Mr. Peacock, M. and C. Gl.), "a lamb 
weaned from its mother, but still unshorn." There is no reference to sex, 
sex being indicated by he and she (he-hogs, she-hogs). Is it not possible 
that hog, in this sense, is the English provincialism, hog, to cut a horse's 
mane short ? Cf. Scotch hog, to cut trees, so as to make pollards of them, 
— a word evidently to be traced to Icel. hoggva, to strike, to cut (Eng. hew), 
which, though not used of clipping sheep, occasionally means to cut 
(grass), and is applied, with prep, af, to the beard ; cf. Dan. of hugge. 
Such a derivation would imply that /i^'^, in the sense of sheep, did not origin- 
ally stand alone, but was merely a qualifying epithet, in reference to the first 



326 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Drated = mournful, doleful (of music). Cf CI. Gl. drate, dritey 
to talk slowly, drawl ; also Jam. draich, dj-eich, to go heavily ; 
Iccl. dratfa (qs. dragta), to trail ; Sw. D. dratt, advance by 
short, uncertain steps. 

Drift = the act of driving cattle together for purpose of counting. 
Cf. Jam. drift = a drove of cattle, Dan. dri/i af kvceg, Sw. 
fae-dj-ift^ a drove of cattle. 

Drift road = a road with wide turf borders, suitable for driving 
cattle. 

Dubbings = evergreens with which churches are decked at 
Christmas. Icel. dtd'ba, to trim, to dress. Cf. A.S. dubban^ to 
strike (to dub a knight is to strike him with a sword), of which 
Prof. Skeat says that it is perhaps of Scandinavian origin. 

Dumping = a method of catching eels. A net is placed across 
a dyke, then tJic luafer is beaten, so that the eels are driven 
into the net. Dan. diniipe, to thump ; Icel. diivipa, to thump 
(u7ra| Aey). S ee also dump, to beat, to strike with the feet 
(Jam.) ; also Skeat, Etym. Diet, dump and thump. 

Eldin = firing. Icel. elding, fuel, firing ; clda, to kindle ; eldr, 
fire. Of this word CI. and Vigf. say, " a word that may be 
taken as a test of Scandinavian races ; Dan. ild, Sw. iildj for 
the Teutonic nations use the word feucr,Jiir, which is wanting 
in Scandinavia." 

Faldered, used in the expression nmlfered and faldcred = worn 
out, exhausted (Brogden). This appears to be the Dan. word 
falde = Icel. falla, A.S. fcallan, to fall. See Jam. fald, to 

clip of wool, still future. And that such was the case is perhaps indicated 
by the Lincolnshire provincialism wdhcr-liog, a he-hog (also a surname). 
With this Wether-hog we may compare the surname Hoggelomb (Hugo 
Hoggelomb) in the Lincolnshire portion of Testa de Nevill, and where 
likewise hog is used as an epithet. This derivation would also give some 
reasonable account of hog-colt (Devonshire), a yearling colt. The words 
hoggrcl, hoggastc;-, hogget, may have been formed from hog, when it came 
to be used absolutely. The fact that Icel. higgva is the ordinary word for 
the slaughter of cattle might lead to the conjectui-e that the word hog 
referred to the sheep's fate at the hands of the butcher, but the sense given 
above is more in accordance with the English and Scotch provincialism 
hog, to cut short, and harmonises better v. ith the usual definition of Iiog, as 
applied to a sheep. On the other hand, see Hold. GL, '■^ tup-tamb, a 
young male sheep, which name it retains twelve months, when, if uncut, 
it becomes a tup; if cut, it is called a wether-hog, and fattened for the 
butcher. 



GLOSSARY. 327 

fall, and the editor's note, which shows the excrescent d to be 
due to Scandinavian influence. 

Fall = a woman's veil. I eel. faldr, a white linen hood, which is 
the national head-gear of ladies in Iceland. It is the same 
word as onrfo/d, A.S.feald. 

Farwelted = overthrown. Said of sheep when thrown on their 
back ; also simply -cUclfcdAnd weltered. Icel. velta, to roll over ; 
Dan. vceltc, to overturn. Can the first syllable be Icel./4 gen. 
fjar, cattle, especially sheep ? The genitive is mostly used in 
compounds ; e.g. fjar-beit, sheep-pasture ; fjar-ga?igr, sheep- 
walk, etc. In Tennyson's Northern Farmer it is far-ivcltercd 
ox foiv-'cveltercd; and a./ar-tueltef^d yoiue is defined to be a sheep 
lying on its back in the furrow. But the word is certainly /ar- 
■iveltered, and the idea of a furrow never enters into the head 
of the real Northern farmer. 

Fasten-penny = money advanced by employer to fasten a bargain 
on hiring a servant. Cf. CI. Gl. Fcsti)ig-pc7iny. In the sixteenth 
century it was c^iW&d. festyn-J?e;i7!y in Lincolnshire (see M. and 
C. Gl.) ; cf. Dan. fceste penge, earnest money ; Icel. festar 
pemiiitgr, pledge, bail ; cf. Jam. fes/fiyng, the confirmation of 
a bargain ; aXsofestyn, to bind legally. 

Fat = vat. Icel. fat, a vat ; Dan. fad, Sw. fit, A.S. fet. See 
Jam.yic/. 

Feed = to grow fat (Brogden). Dan. fede, to fatten ; Icel. fcita, 
to fatten ; A.'i.fce/iiivt. 

Feigh or Fey = to clean out (of a drain, etc.). \ce\.fcgja to clean ; 
Dan. feie; "feighing the milne beckc," 1582 (see M, and C. 
GL, p. 102). It is now usually spelt y^j. 

Fend for oneself = to provide for one's self. See CI. Gl., where 
Mr. Atkinson derives the expression from Dan. D. fcefife, 
fente^f/de, to try to acquire with care and toil ; and Molbech 
connects our expression fe7id with this word. The term is 
given by Jam. with several shades of meaning, but he traces it 
to Fr. defend7-e. 

Fest, same as Fastai-peiuiy, qu. v. 

FiTTY, FiTTIES. See p. 191. 

Flacker = to throb, flutter, hesitate. \ct\.flaka, to flap;_/?£'^r^, to 
flutter ; Dan. flagre, Ger. faeker?i, to flutter ; M.E. flakketi 
(see CI. Gl.). Mr. Atkinson also gives Su. G. flacka, circum- 
cursitare, but this would be the lct\. flakka,X.o rove about; 



328 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Dan. flakkc. Flaka and flakka are, however, allied to one 
another. Sec Skeat, Etym. Diet J^auni and _^ag: 

Flake, Fleak = fence, hurdle. I eel. /faki, fleki, a hurdle, or a 
shield of wicker-work, used for defence in battle ; TiTiXi. flage, 
Sw. V). flake. See CI. G\. flakes^ ]a.m.flaik,flate. 

Flawps = an idle person. I eel. flcipr, babble, tattle ; fleipra, 

fleipa., to tattle. Flippant is from the same origin (see Skeat, 

Etym. Diet.). See also CI. G\.fla2(p. Jam. gives flup, a foolish 

and awkward person, which he derives in the first instance 

from Su. G.flcper, homo ignarus, mollis. 

Fleck = a spot, as in fever, or on spotted animals. Icel. flckkr, a 
spot ; Dan. flo'k, Sw. flack, M.E.flrk. See Skeat, Etym. Diet. 

Fleer = a jeer ; also vi. to mock. Norw. fli'ra, to giggle (see 
Skeat, Etym. Diet.). See CI. QX.flire; see also ]an\.fleyr, but 
with rather a different sense. 

Fligged = fledged. \ce\.fleygr, able to fly ; flcygja, to cause to 
fly ; Dan. D. flyg, ready to fly. Fledged is a word of 
Scandinavian origin, and has been merely softened from 
M.Y.. flcggc, ready to fly. See Skeat, Etym. Diet.; see also 
CI. Gl. 

Flipe = a flap, brim of a hat. Dan. flip, a flap ; cf IceX.flipt, a 
horse's lip ; Sw. D.flip, the lip. See CI. Gl. 

Flit = to remove from one house to another. Icel. flytja, to 
remove, migrate ; Dan. flylle, Sw. flytta, M.E. flittcn. See 
Skeat, Etym. Diet., also CI. Gl., and Jam. 

Flittermouse = the bat. Sw.fliidar-mus, Germ, fleder-viaiis, Dan. 
flagger-DUis. See CI. Gl. The lce\. flcr&ar-nu'is {i.e. flood- 
mouse, a fabulous animal in nursery tales), is probably the 
corruption of Ger.fledcr-niaus. See CI. and Vigf Diet. 

Flow = a word used in churning. Cream is said to flow, when 
it swells in the churn, so as to prevent its being worked. Icel. 
floa, to boil (of milk) ; flou'S ?njdlk, boiled milk. 

Flowter, vb. and sb. = flutter. Very likely a provincial corruption 
oi flutter ; but Mr. Atkinson zonneeX.?, flawter with \ee\.flyta, 
to hasten, whence fljotr, swift. See CI. GX.flawtci', p. i86. In 
Cr. D.floutered = frightened. 

Fond = foolish, half-witted. Dan. /ante, idiot ; cf Icel. fdni, 
buoyant, high-flying ; Sw.fchie,a fool. See Skeat, Etym. Diet. 

FOOTY = poor, mean, nasty. Sw./uttig, mean, paltry ; or Dan. 
fattig, poor. See CI. Gl. fouty. 



GLOSSARY. 329 

FORELDERS = ancestors. I eel. forcldri^ foreldrar, forefathers ; 
T>dXi. force Idrc. See ]a.m..forelderis, CI. GX. fore-elders. 

Frangy = spirited, unmanageable. See CI. GX.f-aiaige, to indulge 
a frolicsome turn, which Mr. Atkinson is inclined to derive 
from frenjidlgr, hoydenish. Fraunge. as a subst., in Lin- 
colnshire means a village feast, in Cleveland, a frolic ; and 
this word would very naturally have the same origin as 
frangy. 

Gab-stick, a coarsely made, large wooden spoon (Brogden). Dan. 
gab., mouth. 

Gaby — a stupid person. Icel. gap!., a rash man ; cf. V>?cn. gab, 
a booby, ixoxw gabe, to yawn. See Jam. Gaibie. 

Gadd = a goad (obsolete) ; but' see Stang-GAD. Icel. gaddr, a 
goad ; A.S. gad. Gad occurs in Hav. the Dane. 

Gag = a hoax (Brogden). See Jam. gag, to play on one's 
credulity ; gaggcry, deception. Of these words Dr. Jam. 
remarks, " It is singular that Isl. gagr signifies impudicus, 
and gagarc, sciolus imprudens, etc. Gaegr, dolus, Haldorson." 

Gain = (i) near ; (2) ready, expert. Cf. three kindred words in 
Icelandic, (i) gagn = gain ;! also, right through, straight, and 
hence, short, e.g. gagn-vegr, gagn-stigr, short cut ; (2) gegnf, 
adv. — straight, sicp., gcfrgst = the shortest way ; (3) gegn, 
adj. = short, e.g. g€7igsta veg = X[\q gai nest way ; also = ready, 
serviceable (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Cf. Da.w. gje7t, g/e7inere, 
gjentiest; adv., gient. 

Gap or Gapstead = a hole in a fence. Icel. gap = opening ; 
M.E. gappe. Stead is a frequent termination ; cf. doorstead, 
garthstcad. Gap is used in local names ; e.g. Harden's Gap, a 
cleft in the hills near Tetford. 

Gar = to cause (obsolete). Icel. g'ora, to make ; Dan. gjore, to 
do. Gar, is still used in N.E. and Scotland. 

■Garbing or Gare = a term used in ploughing to denote a 
triangular section, which has to be ploughed in a different 
direction from the [rest. Icel. geiri, a triangular strip, <:'.o-. 
landgciri!'^ See gai'r (Jam.), and gore, infra. The garcing or 
gare is gore in Norfolk ; cf. Wellingore in Lincolnshire. Gare 
occurs absolutely, and in compounds, frequently in ancient 
documents. 

Garth, (i) a stackyard ; (2) a yard in which cattle are kept ; (3) 
a small enclosure near_a homestead. Icel. gar&r, an enclosed 



330 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

space; Da.n. gaard. I eel. ^^^r^'Sr is generally used as a suffix, 
g.^. kirkjii-gaj'^r, stakk-gar%i; ]iey-ga7%7-; when used absolutely 
= hay-yard, i.e. the yard round the ha}' ricks. Sec CI. and 
Vigf. Diet. 

Garthstead = (i) a homestead ; (2) a stackyard (see also Stag- 
GARTh) ; (3) a yard in which cattle are folded. Cf. Icel. gar^~ 
staf>r, modern gar^-stcc^i, the place of a fence or hay-yard. 

Gate = (i) a road ; (2) way, manner ; (3) right of pasture. For 
(i) cf. Icel. gata, Sw. gata, Dan. gadc ; but see p. 190. (2) 
= gait., a peculiar use of gate, as above, " to go on at that 
gate ;" (3) for this use of the word we must look to Ic^. gcrta 
= to tend (of cattle) ; gcrta kua, gata licsta. See CI. and Vigf. 
T>\c\.. gata igjdta, gate = to tend sheep. Ivar Aasen). 

Gaterow = a street. See Gate (i). 

Gatrum = a passage ; also a narrow road leading from one field 
to another, from a road to a field, etc. Icel. gata, a road. 
Perhaps the suffix is Icel. 77/;//, Eng. roo/n, the old meaning 
of which is space, place. In hli^-n'im, an open space, free 
passage, 7-i'nn (as a suffix), comes very near in meaning to that 
of the second sjllable in gatna/i. This is a word in constant 
use in Lincolnshire. At Louth there is a narrow pathway of 
considerable length enclosed between two high walls, called 
Gatherums. In the NotiticT; Ludae, 1834, the writer suggests 
what has since become the general and popular interpretation 
of the name. " In the neighbourhood of Aswell is a piece of 
land still called the Gatherums, the origin of which I thus 
venture to explain. The ecclesiastics who cultivated, at their 
own expense, a piece of land several acres in extent, assigned 
its productions to those of the poor who had none. When 
these productions were thought to be ripe, one of the church 
bells, it appears, gave warning to the poor, that favourites 
might take no advantage of the rest. It is almost unnecessary 
to add that the grounds are corruptly called Gatherums from 
^gather 'c/n ' or ''gather thein^ the word of command given 
at the appointed hour." Such a venture in the way of ex- 
planation must seem singularly unnecessary to any one who 
passes through this narrow passage, and is acquainted with 
the common provincialism ^a/r/////. 

G.A.WK = fool. This very likel)', as Prof Skeat suggests (Etym. 
Diet.), is identical with gowk, qu. v. Mr. Atkinson, however. 



GLOSSARY. 331 

derives the word from Su. G. i;'d':k,gt'c/c^ S\\. giick^ \cc\. gi/i:kr, 
a fool, a jester (see CI. GL, p. 212) ; so, too, Dr. ]?Lm.. gaii/cie, 
but he mentions also Sw. gook, a cuckoo, as an alternative 
derivation. 

Gawm = to stare vacantly. Cf. CI. Gl.gaiein, to give heed. Icel. 
gaum}-, heed ; gefa gaui/i, to give heed ; cf. also the closely 
allied words gey ma, to watch ; gey man', a keeper. See also 
goam (Jam.), who mentions Teut. goomcr, curator. In Holder- 
ness gawm = wit, sense, tact (Hold. GL, p. 66) ; in Craven, 
gawm = to know, distinguish. 

Gay = a rut on a path (Brogden). Can this be Icel. ^'y^f, a chasm, 
a rift in the fells or crags? The word gja survives in North 
Scotland as geo (hard g) = a deep hollow ; of which Dr. 
Jam. says, " This is undoubtedly the same with Isl. gya, hiatus, 
vel ruptura magna pctrarum ; G. Andr. gi'a, fissi montis vel 
terrte hiatus." 

GiLLEFAT = a brewing tub. See CI. Gl. gilevat. Norse gil^ ale 
in a state of fermentation ; Daxi-gilkar or gilsaa (saa, Line, soc 
qu. v.), a fermenting tub. See ]^x^. gyle-fat, gyle-house. Dr. 
Jam. derives it from the Belgic form gyl, new boiled beer. 

Gilt = a young sow before she has littered. See CI. Gl. gilt ; 
Sw. D.gyllta, (i) a spayed sow ; (2) a young sow-pig which 
has not yet littered ; Icel. gylta Tindgyltr (O.E.yelt), a young 
sov\' ; A.S. g/lte. See also Jam. ^'"^/Z. 

Gl.MMER or GiMBER = a female sheep that has not been shorn. 
Icel. gymbr = an ewe lamb of a year old ; Dan. gi'mmer, an 
ewe that has not lambed. 

Gleg = (i) a glance ; (2) adj. pleased, active, sharp, sly ; (3) t/Z-. to 
look pleased, to look at. Cf. CI. Gl. gleg, to cast side looks. 
Icel. gloggr, glt'ggr, and glcy.?^'' — clear-sighted, clever ; Dan 
glogi shrewd ; cf. Scotch gleg with a great number of meanings 
of which the root idea is quickness; cf also Scotch ^/t'^i? = to 
glance, or a glance, and which Dr. Jamieson derives from Icel. 
gloa, to shine. Scotch gley, to squint, to look obliquely, may 
be compared with CI. Gl. gleg, to cast side looks. 

Gloar = glower, to stare vacantly. \z€i. glora, to glare like a cat's 
eyes ; Sw. D. glo}-a, to stare ; Su. G. glo, attentis oculis videre. 

Glumps = glum. Cf Scotch glumps,glums/t, etc. This word Dr. 
Jamieson derives from Icel. gluj>na, to look downcast. Ch'ipna 
is certainly represented in gloppcn, to startle ; see CI. and Vigf. 



332 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

V>\c\. gli'ipna ; but glunips is perhaps a corruption oi ghan = 
gloomy, which is from S\v. D. glomvia, to stare. 

Gnag, To = to gnaw. Iceh gnaga, Sw. gnaga, Dan. 7iage, A.S. 
gnagan, to gnaw. The English word 7iag in the sense of 
-worry, tease, is from the closely allied Swedish word nagga, to 
nibble, peck ; cf. Dan. nag = spite ; cf. also Dan. gnave, to 
grumble ; guaven, querulous. 

Gnarl = to gnaw. Cf. gnarl, CI. Gl. Mr, Atkinson connects 
this word with Dan. D. gnalde, gnaldre, to gnaw, nibble, a 
frequentative oi gnaga; cf. also ViTcsx. gnald, a bit, morsel. 

Gob = mouth. Dan.^i^a;^, from Icel. ^i.'-^/. d.gabstick, supra. Dr. 
Jamieson, however, would trace this word to Gaelic gob, a 
beak ; so also Prof. Skeat, gobbet and 7^^. 

God's-penny (obsolete) = fasten-penny. This term is still used in 
Cleveland (CI. Gl.). See Mr. Atkinson's interesting notice 
of the word in CI. Gl. Su. G., and O. Dan. Gudspenningj 
Dan. D. Gudspcngc, This word, however, is not exclusively 
Scandinavian. 

(JOOLY = yellow-hammer. Cf. Icel. gull,goll, gold ; gulr, yellow ; 
Dan. giiiil or gid, yellow ; gullig, yellowish ; cf. Scotch goal 
— yellow ; yonlring, yddring — yellow-hammer. 

GOPPEN or Groppen := as much as can be contained in both hands. 
Icel. gaupn — (i) both hands held together in the form of a 
bowl ; (2) a measure, as much as can be taken in both hands. 
Sw. g'dpcn. See CI. Gl. and Jam. goiipcn. 

Gore or Goar = an angular piece inserted in a woman's skirt ; 
also a cut in a bank. Cf. Scotch gair, gare, gore (Jam.), and 
gare, supra, Icel. geiri, Ger. gehre; cf. Dan. goring, gore, a 
triangular strip. Icel. sct-geiri, a goar let into breeches. See 
CI. and Vigf Diet. 

Gowk = a cuckoo. Icel. gaukr, Sw. gook, Sw. V>. gauk, gok, A.S. 
gedc. An owl is a glimmer-gowk. Gouk appears amongst the 
earliest of Lincolnshire surnames ; Herbertus Gouk, Hundr. R. 

Graft or Graff = a drain. Icel. grbf, gen. grafar, a pit ; groftr, 
gtn.graftar, a digging ; T>a.x\.grav, a ditch ; cf also Icg\. grafa, 
to dig ; grafa engi sitt — to drain one's own field ; so Dan. 
grave, to dig ; grave Vandet ud a/en Mose = to drain a bog. 

Grain or Graining = the junction of the branches of a tree or 
forked stick. Icel. grcin, a branch ; Dan green, Sw. gren. 
Mr. Atkinson remarks (CI. Gl. p. 229), " Sw. D. greji = the 



GLOSSARY. ;^^^ 

angle which two shoots or branches, springing from the same 
point, form with each other." Sec also Jam. qrain. 

Grave = to dig, esp. of turf and peat for fuel. I eel. grafa, to 
dig ; grafa io7-f= to dig peat ; Daxi. grave, K.?,. grafaii. In 
Cleveland and Shetland to grave = to dig. 

Grew = a greyhound. I eel. grey, a greyhound, also grcy-Jmndr, 
which is the original of our gnyhoie/id (see Skeat, Etym. 
Diet.) ; see also Jam. ^r^^c. 

Grew = pain, grief; also vb. to suffer pain. Dan. grue, to dread, 
shudder at ; gru, horror ; of. our griiesovie, for which see 
Skeat, Etym. Diet. ; see also grotee, growe, gruotis, grugous 
(Jam.). In the Holderness district groo = sullen, and (of 
weather) gloomy (Hold GL). 

Grime = soot. Dan. grim, lamp-black, soot ; Sw. D. griina, a 
smut on the face ; cf. Icel. griiiia, a disguise. Gii.m, smut, 
dirt, occurs in Hav. the Dane. Cf. Jam. gremc, gretin, dirt 
(Shetland). 

Grip = a surface drain. See Atkinson, CI. GL, who identifies gr/p 
with Sw. D. grip, a ditch. But the word occurs in Hav. the 
Dane, and in his glossary to that poem, Prof Skeat derives it 
from A.S. grap, a furrow, a ditch. 

Grobble = to grope, to feci about as if in the dark. Icel. 
grufla, to grovel on all fours (cf. gnifa, to crouch, grovel); 
gattga gruflaiidi, to go groping after a thing. In Norfolk and 
Suffolk there is a phrase to lie grubblins, i.e. face downwards. 
In Cleveland groffle and griifflc are in use as well as grobble 
(see CI. GL). "The \vor6. grovelli}!g-wz.s originally an adv.; cf. 
Scotch grofii/is, O. E. griifflyjjges,gro_fIinges'^ (R. Morris, History 
of English Accidence, p. 194, 1872) ; see also Skeat, Etym. 
Diet, grovel, which is of Scandinavian origin. 

Grove = a ditch, a water-course (Brogden). Icel. grof, a pit, a 
hole ; gen. grafar; cf. grafar-lcekr, a brook which has dug 
itself a deep bed ; cf also grof, a pit. See also groof, a hollow 
in the ground (Cr. D.). 

Grunsel or Grundsel = the threshold. Prof. Skeat (Etym. Diet.) 
takes this word to be the corruption of ground-sill, spelt 
grunsel in Milton's Paradise Lost, bk. i. p. 460. But Mr. 
Herbert Coleridge takes it to be of Scandinavian origin from Icel. 
grind, a door, and syll, a sill. Dr. Jamieson, grind, a gate, 
(Orkn. ShetL), points out the connection between Icel. grind 



334 LINCOLNSHIRE AND TIIK DANES. 

(mod. Norvv. grimf), and Dan. griin, " a gate, a three, four or 
five bar gate ; Wolff." If the first syllable of this word be Icel. 
gntid, we only have the same change of vowel as in gnmstone 
for grindstone, which prevails not only in Lincolnshire, but also 
in Holderness and Cleveland. 

Gut = a narrow passage. Perhaps only another form of gat (see 
Wedgewood's Contested Etymologies, gate), and in this case 
would be connected with O. Sw. gjuta, to pour {Jiod gjuta, 
flood-gate) ; but it is more likely that it comes direct from Icel. 
gjota, Dan. gyde, a narrow lane. 

Gyze, Gyzen = to warp or twist, by sun or wind. Icel. gisittn, 
leaky, of tubs or wooden vessels ; gisna, to become leaky ; Sw. 
gisten, gistnaj Dan. gi'ssen, leaky. One of Mr. Peacock's 
illustrations is as follows : " Thoo's left that bucket out o' doors 
empty i' the sun till its gotten gyzened, so as ony body mud 
shove a knife atween th' lags" (M. and C. Gl., p. 126). See 
geyze, glzzen, gysen (Jam.). Su. G. gisitta, gisna; dicitur de 
vasis ligneis quando rimas agunt. 

Hack = an axe for dressing stone. Su. G. Jiacka = a mattock ; 
Dan. hakke, a pick-axe ; Sw. hacka, a hoe. Cf. Icel. hjakka 
and Dan. hakke, to chop. See Atkinson, CI. Gl. hack = a pick- 
axe with one arm. Also Jam. 

Hacker = to stammer. Dan. hakke, to stutter ; Icel. hjakka. In 
Scotland to hacker = to hash in cutting, to hack small. 

Hag = to hack, chop awkwardly. Sw. hagga, to chop. See hag- 
-clog, CI. Gl. But Jam. gives Icel. hoggva, to strike with a sharp 
weapon, to hew ; hogg, a blow. So, too, CI. and Vigf. hogg. 

Hag = a bog ; " peat moor hags." Cf. hag in Jam. and in CI. GL, 
where it is shown that this word is also connected with hoggva, 
in the sense of land having been cleared with the axe. Icel. 
hbgg, a hewing down of trees ; Sw. hygge. It appears that the 
term hugg was used in the Norwegian laws in the same sense 
as hag in Scotland, viz. moss ground that has been broken up. 

HaG-WORM = a snake (obsolescent). Icel. hbggoriiir, Sw. hug- 
gorm, a viper. Thus, in Cleveland, hagwortn = the common 
viper or adder, the striking snake. 

Hakes = a worthless fellow (always associated with the idea of 
idleness). Icel. hdkr, originally some kind offish belonging to 
the cod family (connected with haki, hook) ; Norw. hakefisk, 
i.e. hook fish, from the hooked under-jaw. See Skeat, Etym. 



GLOSSARY. 335 

Diet. hake. Hdkr is generally used in compounds in an 
abusive sense. Mdt-hdkr, glutton ; or^-hdk}\ foul mouth. It 
occurs as a nickname, Thorkc/l Jidk}- j but this was in the 
sense of cruel, " because he spared naught cither in word or 
deed" (CI. and Yigf. Diet. hdkr). In Cambridgeshire haked 
= a large pike. Stratmann gives " hake = squilla " (lobster ?). 
See also hake (CI. Gl.). 

Hale = to pour. lce\. he/la, to pour out ; he//a uttdrum = to shed 
tears. So in Lincolnshire, "the sweat hales of'n me o' nights." 
Su. G. hevlla, halla, to incline, to tilt, to pour lic^uid. 

Hale = (i) A gareing, qu. v. ; (2) a bank or strip of grass separating 
the land of two persons ; (3) a sand-bank. In M. and C. Gl. Prof. 
Skeat suggests A.S.heal, a corner, angle ; and IccX.hjalit, a ledge 
of rock. There is also Icel. halli, a sloping brink (see Addenda, 
CI. and Vigf. Diet., p. 774), connected with hallr, a hill. Perhaps 
a still more likely origin may be found in Icel. halt, Dan. 
hale = a tail ; occasionally used in a local sense, to signify a 
narrow neck or strip of land. 

Hales = handles of a plough or wheelbarrow. Icel. ha;ll = (i) a 
heel ; (2) a peg in the earth for fastening purposes ; but orf- 
hcell — the handle in a scythe shaft ; cf. Sw. D. haiid-hel, the 
equivalent of our hales. See CI. Gl. 

Hand-hold = anything that may be grasped ; cf. Icel. handar- 
hald, a handle. 

Hank = a skein of cotton. Icel. honk, a skein, or coil (cf. hangr); 
Sw. D. hank. See CI. Gl. and Jam. 

Hankle = to entangle. See hank, and cf. Icel. hankask, to be 
coiled up. See Jam. hatikle, to fasten. 

Hansel = (i) Luck money ; (2) the first use of anything ; (3) 
(as a verb) to try or use for the first time. Icel. hajidsal, the 
transference of right to property by shaking or joining hands, 
lit. hand-sale. Dan. handsel, Sw. handsdl. In Lincolnshire 
the striking of hands is still regarded as the conclusion of a 
bargain ; hence the phrase, to strike a bargain, Icel. handsala 
kaiip. Handsala or handselja = to make over by handsel. 
Possibly meanings (2) and (3) may rather be connected with 
A.S. hand sjlen, a delivering into the hand ; hand syllan, to 
deliver up ; syleti, a gift ; syllan, to give. 

Hard = sour (of ale). Cf. Sw. D. haard, in exactly the same sense. 
See CI. Gl. 



336 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Harden-faced = brazen. Cf. Icel. har&iia, to harden ; also to be 

hardened (of character) ; Su. G. luxf&na. See CI. Gl. 
Hardlings = hardly. This is one of many adverbs ending in ling 
or lings, still in common use, which Mr. Atkinson compares 
with adverbs of South Jutland ending in Icoigs; bagla-figs, 
arslccngs. Dr. Morris, however, gives a different account : 
"There were some adverbs in O.E., originally dat. fern, sing., 
ending in inga^ lenga, liiiga, lunga. A few of these, without 
the dative suffix, exist under the form of ling or long, as head- 
long (O.E. heedlinge), sideling (sidelong), darkling. In the 
fourteenth century we find these with the gen. form : allynges, 
heedlynges, flatlinges. The Scotch dialect has preserved the 
old suffix linges, under the form of lins, as darJdins, in the 
dark." (History of Eng. Accidence, p. 194.) Still more faithfully 
has it been preserved in Lincolnshire ; e.g. niostlins, hardlins, 
scarcclins, darklins, diisklins. 
Harr or Arr = mist (generally used of mist from the sea ; sea- 
harr). Mr. Atkinson {Jiarr, a strong fog or wet mist, almost 
verging on drizzle), suggests O.N. ar, pulvis ininutissimus. 
May it not rather be traced to Icel. I'lr = drizzhng rain? 
See Owery. This word Jiarr is used in the same sense in 
Scotland. Dr. Jam. doubtfully identifies harr with hair, or 
hare, which (again doubtfully) he traces to hoar. 
Haulm = the straw of beans, peas, tares, etc. Icel. hcilnir, Dan. 
halm, A.S. hcahn, straw. In Scotland hallum = the woody 
part of flax. 
Haver = wild oats. Icel. hafr (only occurs in the pi. hafrar), 
oats, but not found in old writers (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; 
Dan. havj'e, Sw. hafrc. 
Haver-meal = oat-meal (obsolescent). See Haver. 
Haze = (i) To drizzle ; (2) to bale water ; (3) to beat {a hazing = 
a beating). Icel. ansa, to sprinkle ; also to pump water out of 
a ship ; also to abuse or scold (which may account for the 
third meaning of haze) ; Dan. ose, to bale water ; also to pour 
(of rain) ; osregn, torrents of rain ; bse = also, a scoopor ladle ; 
so in Lincolnshire they will talk of hazing the food into the 
mouth, i.e. eating greedily and ravenously. The Cleveland 
word owse only has the meaning of baling out. Of haze, 
mist. Prof. Skeat says, " Scand. ? Perhaps from Icel. hosit, 
gray, dusky." His chief reason for deriving it from O.N. is 



GLOSSARY. 2>Z7 

the fact of its being a North country word. Will not Icel. atesa, 
to sprinlile, give a more satisfactory origin ? 

Heck = a rack for fodder in a stable or field. Su. G. hccc/c, a rack ; 
Dan. hcek, rack, but also a hedge ; Icel. ha(^i, O. S\v. hag, 
a pasture. The same idea underlies these words, viz. that of 
being enclosed with a fence or railing. See Atkinson, CI. Gl. 
p. 255. See also hack (Jam.). 

Heck-STAVER = the bar of a heck. For Staver, see below. 

Heckle = to dress flax. Sw. hakla, carminare, pectere linum ; 
Dan. heckle, to crochet ; Teut. hekelcn, pectere linum. Prof 
Skeat would derive heckle from Dutch hekel, but it is more 
likely to have entered Liiicohishire through Sw. hcekla. 

Heckler = one who heckles flax or hemp. See Heckle. 

Heckles = a machine for heckling. See Heckle. 

HeedlY; also Eardley = very. Generally coupled with big, large ; 
"heedlybig." Can this be Icel. //fZ'/Z/z]^?', dangerous, serious, 
used with the same intensive force as we have attached to 
atufiilly, fearfully, etc. ? Other possible derivations are O.E. 
hetterly,:icxQ, violenter, which Stratmann traces to M.L.G.; O.E. ' 
hetelike, hotly, furiously, Hav. the Dane (same as hetterly f) ; 
and O.E. Jiecdling = headlong. 

Hell-stang = eel-spear. Dan. aal-stang, eel-spear ; cL statige aal, 
to spear eels. Dan. slang = a pole ; also a fishing-rod. See 
also slang-gad. 

Helm = a shed (obsolescent). Icel. hjali}ir,{\) a helmet ; (2) used 
of helmet-shaped objects ; among others, of a barn, hay-house, 
etc. Although hardly still in use in Lincolnshire in this sense, 
helm is commonly used both in Cleveland and Holderness for 
a shed of a particular kind. Mr. Atkinson (CI. Gl.) gives Dan. 
and Sw. D. hjelm, as having a similar meaning. See also helm, 
shade for cattle (Cr. D.). 

Hen-STEE = the ladder by which fowls ascend to their roosting- 
place. For Stee, see below. Hett may be Icel. hcens, Dan. 
hons, used for chickens generically, as we sd^y , poultry or fowls j 
cf. Dan. hons-stige, hen-roost. 

Heppen = handy, clever, dexterous. Icel. heppinn, lucky ; or&- 
heppinn, ready-tongued ; cf. O.E. happen = heppinn, fortu- 
nate (see Stratmann). 

Hesp = hasp, a small hook used for fastening a gate. Icel. hespa^ 
a hasp ; Dan. hasp. Prof. Skeat, however, derives E. hasp 

Z 



338 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

from A.S. Jicrpsc, a bolt. The word Iicspe appears in Prompt 
Parv. 

Hill = to earth up potatoes, etc. Icel. /lyO'a, to hide, to cover, 
to bury ; jbf&a hiclinn, buried in the ground ; hylja auri, to 
hide in the earth ; Dan. hylic, to wrap ; A.S. helan, to hide. 
As Idle, this word occurs in Hav. the Dane, meaning to cover ; 
" A rof shall hile us both." See M. and C. Gl. ; cf. also Jam. 
heild, heal and hool. 

HOARST and HOST = a cold on the chest ; hoarseness. Icel. hosta^ 
to cough ; hosti, a cough ; A.S. hwosta. See host and kink- 
host (Jam.). 

Hoe = a hill ; obsolete as a single word, Ixit very common in local 
names. Icel. hairgr, O. Sw. haiigr, hogher, Su. G. hog, Dan. 
hoj. S. Jutl. hog, Norw. haug and hoiig. The primary mean- 
ing of the word is a mound, not necessarily artificial (see CI. 
and Vigf. Diet.), but with great frequency it signifies a tumulus. 

HORSE-COUPER = a horse-dealer. Icel. kaiipa, Dan. kjobe, Sw. 
kopa, A.S. cenpian, to buy. Cf. coupe, to buy (Hav. the 
Dane). See also ho7'sc-coiiper (Jam.). 

House-boot = right of getting wood to repair houses (obsolete). 
Cf. Icel. hi'isbot, house repairs ; Icel. hot, a bettering, a cure ; 
also a patch (of a garment) ; botsama, to repair. 

HUCK = hip. Probably connected with Icel. Mtka, to sit on one's 
hams ; hokra, to crouch ; cf. Dan. szdde paa hzig'Xo sit on one's 
hams. In these words we have the original of the English 
word hug (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.), which curiously has, in Lin- 
colnshire, the special sense of car-rying (e.g. to hug the seek). 
See the remarks of Atkinson, CI. Gl., on hieke, huke-bone; also 
see Jam. hitke-bane, hookers, and hunkers. 

Hut = lit. a hat, but used of a finger-stall. Icel. hbttr, a cowl, a 
hood ; A.S. hat, Eng., Dan., and Sw. hat. Perhaps also 
identical with A.S. hod, Eng. hood (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; 
but Prof. Skeat, Etym. Diet., keeps hood and hat quite distinct 
in regard to their derivation. Cf Ger. finger-hut, thimble. 

Hutching and Scutching = fidgetting about. The vowel of 
the first has probably been assimilated to that of the second. 
In Scotland there is the word hotch (also used in Lancashire), 
to move the body by sudden jerks, which Dr. Jamieson would 
derive from Icel. hossa, to toss in one's arms., e.g. a child. 
Professor Skeat, however, appears to identify the Scotch pro- 



GLOSSARY. 339 

vincialism hotch with Eng. hitch, which is M.E., Mcchen, to 
move, remove, and may perhaps be derived from I eel. hvika 
(of which hika is a modern form), to quail, to shrink. Hiitch, 
however, may after all only be a vulgarism for hitch ; and this 
seems the more likely from the fact that hutch up is used in 
Lincolnshire for hitch up. 

ICE-CANLES = icicles. In Scotland we have icetanglc, which Jam. 
connects with dingull, an icicle. (CI. and Vigf only give 
dingull, a small spider ; there is, however, some confusion 
between dingull, spider, and digull, mucus of the nose.) Icel. 
dingla, Dan. dangle, Sw. D. dangla, to dangle, are perhaps more 
likely to be tlie original oi tangle in ':^coic\\ ice-tangle, of which 
our ice-canle, or ice-candle may well be a corruption. Some of 
the provincial words for icicle are undoubtedly to be traced to 
Icel. jokull, N. Fris. is-jokkel, or Low. G. jokel. Thus we 
have ise-chokill, Scotland ; ice-shackle, Leeds and Craven ; 
ice-shoggles, ice-shoglins, Cleveland ; yokle, Halliwell. See the 
remarks of Mr. Atkinson, CI. GL, ice-shoggles. 

Intak = land taken from a common, or the sea. Dan. indtag, Sw. 
intak, O. Sw. intaka. See CI. Gl. intak, and Jam. intack and 
intak. 

Jannick or Jannack = fair, just, satisfactory. See CI. Gl. Mr. 
Atkinson derives this word from Icel. jafn, equal ; cf. Sw. D. 
ja7ika, to make level. It is curious that the very similar word 
jannock should be used in Scotland, Lancashire, and else- 
where, in the very different sense of oaten bread. 

Jawp = (i) sound produced by liquid shaken in a half-empty cask ; 
(2) senseless talk. Dr. Jam. is inclined to derive ^tcotohjawp or 
jalp (with kindred meanings), from Icel. gjalfr, the din of the 
sea ; and this derivation receives support from the fact that 
gjalfr is metaph. used of speech, in the same way as jawp j 
or^a-gjdlfr = word-din, empty sotcnding words (see CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). The empty sound may well be a connecting link 
between WviZ. ja-wp and \c&\. gjalfr. 

Kaving or Caving = taking long straws from corn before it is 
winnowed. Icel. kdfa, to stir ; kdfa, i heyi = to stir the hay 
with a rake. ; cf Palsgrave " to caue corn." See Jam. cave. 

Kaving rake, Kaving riddle. See Kaving. 

Keak up = to tip up a cart. Icel. keikja, to bend backwards ; 
keikr, bent backwards. 



340 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Kedge, sb. = (i) the belly ; (2) rubbish, trash ; Kedge, adj. — stiff, 
tight ; Kedge, 7'b. = to fill, to stufif. Icel. kaggi, a keg (which 
was formerly also spelt cag) ; vSw. kagge, Norw. /cagge, a round 
mass or heap ; also a big bellied-animal or man. See Skeat, 
Etym. Diet. keg. 

Kedge-BELLIED = gorged; Kedgy = pot-bellied. \ct\. kaggi v)a.s in 
frequent use as a nickname, undoubtedly in the sense of big- 
bellied J- cf. Norw. kagge (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

Keel = a small vessel used on Humber and Trent for carrying 
coals and potatoes. Icel. kjoll, a barge. But with equal pro- 
bability it may be A.S. ceol, O.H.G. cheol, chicl. Professor 
Skeat is doubtful whether to call it an English or Scandinavian 
word. CI. and Vigf think it probable that Icel. kjSll is bor- 
rowed from the A.S. ceol. It may be added that kjoll is quite 
distinct from kj'olr, carina, the keel of a ship. 

Ken = to know ; also used as sb.., to have the ken of a thing. Icel. 
kenna, to know ; Sw. kdnna., Dan. kjende.- 

Kenspeckle = easy to recognize, conspicuous. Cf. Icel. kc7im- 
speki, the faculty of recognition ; Su. G. kccnnespak and Dan. 
kjende-spag, clever at recognizing. See Jam. kenspeckle.^ CI. 
Gl. kenspack, etc. 

Ket = unwholesome meat, carrion. Icel. kjot (also pron. kef), 
flesh, meat ; Su. G. koelf, Dan. kjbd.^ 

Ket-craw = carrion crow, used, too, of the Danish crow (also cad- 
craw). See Ket. 

Ketty = soft, a term applied to soil, to describe its softy, peaty 
nature. Most probably an adj. formed from ket, carrion (see 
ketty, CI. Gl.) ; but in Scotland kett is " a spungy peat com- 
posed of tough fibres of moss and other plants ; " ketty = 
matted (of soil). Dr. Jamieson derives these words from Welsh 
caet/i, bound, confined. 

' A portion of the Old Haven bank at Grimsby was called Ket Bank. 
Dr. Oliver persuaded himself that this name preserved a record of "the 
great female divinity of the British Druids, Ket or Ceridwen, a personification 
of the ark of Noah ; the famous Keto of antiquity, or in other words, Ceres, 
the patroness of the ancient mysteries." (See the Monumental Antiquities 
of Great Grimsby, by George Oliver, Vicar of Clee, p. 39.) The author, in 
dealing with this name, certainly went out of his way to make a mystery 
for the benefit of the goddess. There are no situations in which the kei- 
(V^iw gather in larger numbers, or enjoy themselves more fully, than on river 
and tidal banks. 



GLOSSARY, 341 

Kewse or KOUSH = the hemlock ; especially the dried stems of 
the plant. Icel. /cos, heap ; cf. Orkn. and Shetl. kenss, a heap, 
a pile, a mass. It is not improbable, however, that Line, kewsc 
may be the Welsh cccys, calamus, in a contracted form. Cecys 
is better known to us in the word kex, hemlock, in common use 
in Lincolnshire, as in other counties. 

Kid = a faggot, to make faggots. Not peculiar to Lincolnshire ; 
but apparently absent from Scotland, Cleveland, and Holder- 
ness. Is this Icel. skif> with the loss of initial s? Ski^, fire- 
wood, billet of wood (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; ski'8a-/thv&t, a 
pile of firewood ; cldi-ski'S, a log of firewood ; A.S. scfd, Norw. 
ski. See Cr. D. kid, a bundle of heath or twigs. 

KiLP = semicircular iron handle of a bucket or pot. Icel. ktlpr, 
the handle of a vessel ; see CI. Gl. kelps, which agrees better 
with Sw. D. kiilp, kjclp. 

Kink = a twist in a rope or chain. Dan. kittk (cf. Icel. kengr, a 
bend), Sw. kiiik, Dutch kink = twist (see Jam.). Prof. Skeat 
derives our English word from Swedish or Dutch. 

Kindling = sticks, etc., for lighting a fire. Icel. kynda, to light a 
fire. The English verb kindle, to set fire to, is formed from 
Icel. kyndill, a candle, a torch ; but Icel. kyndill appears to 
have been itself a Northern adaptation of the A.S. catidel, Lat. 
cajidela (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 

Kirk, Kirkgarth (obsolete, but see M. and C. Gl). Icel. kirkja, 
kirkjic-gar&r. 

KlST = achest. Icel. kista, Dan. kistc, A.S. cystc, chest; Lat. 
cista, Gr. Kiarr]. 

Kittle = to tickle. Icel. kii/a, to tickle ; Su. G. kittla, kitsla, 
A.S. ciidiau, to tickle ; citcling, a tickling. See Jam. kittle. 

Kittle, adj., ticklish, shy, nervous. Icel. kitlur, a feeling ticklish. 
Cf. Sw. kittlig, ketlig. 

Kittlin = a kitten. This word agrees with Icel. kctlingr, dimi- 
nutive = a kitten. But Prof. Skeat (Etym. Diet, kitten) says, 
" kit is a weakened form of cat, appearing in the true English 
form killing, and in (obsolete) kittle, to produce kittens." N.B. 
This word kittle is still used in Lincolnshire, as in Scotland, in 
the sense of producing kittens. Under kitlins (CI. Gl.), Mr. 
Atkinson gives N. kjctla, kjotle, to kitten. 

Knap = to crack or snap ; To KNAP TO = to shut to with a click (as 
a gate), also Knep. The form knep is generally used of a horse 



342 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

snapping its teeth together. Su. G. kucrppa, to strike, break, 
crack {e.g. of nuts) ; so Dan. kncppc, to snap ; kncp, a snap. 
Prof. Skeat derives the word rather from Dutch knappen^ to 
snap, to crush, to eat ; Gael, ciiap, to strike. He observes that 
the word is probably not found in Enghsh earher than i 550 ; but 
Stratmann quotes from Rob. of Brune (Lincolnshire, circ. 1350), 
"gnappede here fete and handes." Stratmann connects this 
word gnap, doubtfully, with Dutch knappai. Lincolnshire 
people use this word knap very much in the same sense, as 
did Rob. of Brune, when they speak of knap-hiced for knock- 
kneed. See CI. Gl. knap. 

Knoll = to toll a bell. This is nearer in sound to Su. G. knall, 
sonitus ; Dan. knaldc, to make a, report ; Sw. D. knalla, to 
strike so as to cause a sound, than to A.S. cnyllan, M.E. 
knillen. 

Knoll, sb. = a knock. See M. and C. Gl. No doubt a derivative 
meaning of the verb knoll. 

Knur = a hard wooden ball ; also, the head. Dan. knort, a knot 
in wood (cf. I eel. knoffr, kn'dtfr, a ball) ; O. Dutch knorre, a 
hard swelling, a knot in wood. See interesting remarks in 
CI. Gl. See also .Spi-xl, infra. 

Lace = to flog. Although I eel. Icrka., to lace tight, is quite dis- 
tinct from our English word lace, it is singular that the Ice- 
landic word should also be used metaphorically in the sense 
oi chastising {^to. CI. and Vigf Diet.). Lcrka is still found in 
the Scotch lirk or lerk, a crease or fold. 

Lag = log ; also staves of a tub. Icel. lag, a felled tree, a log. 

Lall = to cry out. Cf Dan. lalle, to babble. See loalling = 
loud mewing (Teviotdale), Jam. " a word perhaps transmitted 
from the Danes of Northumbria ; " Dan. lallc, to babble. Cf. 
lollm'd, Skeat, Etym. Diet. 

Lambaste = to beat ; Lamming = a beating, thrashing. Icel. 
lemja, to beat, flog ; cf also lama, to bruise, half break, and 
lamning, a thrashing (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Can the suffix 
in lambaste be Icel. beysta, to beat, thresh, flog ? In Icelandic 
the two words berja, to strike, and beysta, to beat, are used 
together berja ok beysta — to flog (see CI. and Vigf Diet, beysta). 
The surname of Lamming is common in Lincolnshire, and 
has come down from an early period. 

Lathe = (i) a barn ; also (2) a stage, or platform, on which un- 



GLOSSARY. 343 

threshed corn is placed. Iccl. Jihi^a, barn ; Dan. lade. The 
second meaning- of laihc may represent Iccl. Jilaf), (i) a pile, a 
stack ; (2) a barn ; (3) pavement in front of a homestead. 

Lead = to carry corn, etc., from the field to the stack. Cf. Icel. 
Ici'&a, to lead, conduct ; sometimes used in a sense not far 
removed from that of carrying; /d^a npp, to drag ashore {e.g. 
a ship). Still nearer to our provincial use, is lei^a, bury, carry 
to the grave. The word is used in Scotland in exactly the same 
sense, but it is identified by Jam. with load; " to lead v.a. to 
load ; hence to drive or cart away in loads, to lead corn, etc. 
Lead, led, a load (Clydes.), a led of corn, hay, etc., a load for a 
pony (Shetland)." 

Lilly-low. See low, to blaze. 

Lni = to kill, or to do some great injury. "He looked at me as 
though he'd a limmed me," perhaps limb in the sense of dis- 
member ; but cf. also Icel. lenija (see above, lamming)., and 
lima (connected with li/nr, a limb), to dismember. Lima npp = 
to rip up. 

LiSK or Lesk = the groin. Dan. lyslce, groin. O.E. les^r, Prompt. 
Parv. Atkinson (CI. Gl.) gives O.N. Ijosh', but the word is 
not in CI. and Vigf. Diet. See lisl- (Jam.). 

Lite 7^i>. to wait ; sk the act of waiting. Icel. leila, Dan. lede, to 
seek : lede cfter, to look after. See also Icel. leit, a search. 

LOFF = loose, flufi}' matter. Cf. Icel. li'ifa, rough matted hair ; 
Dan. liiv, nap. 

Loaf = to loiter. Icel. lafa, to hang, dangle ; Dan. lave. 

LoiTCH = clever, agile. Cf. Jam. leash (with the same meaning), 
which he connects with Icel. lauss, free, unencumbered ; leysa., 
to loosen, untie. 

LOPPER = to curdle, coagulate. Icel. lilaupa, to leap, is used in 
this sense ; to coagulate (of milk, blood, etc.) ; and cf. mjolkr- 
Jilaiip, curdled milk; blo^-hlaiip, curdled blood; cf. O.E. 
leper-blode, clotted blood, in The Pricke of Conscience. Dan. 
lobe., to run (which represents Icel. Idaupa)., is used in a similar 
sense. See Jam. lappered. 

LoUP or Loop vb. — to leap ; also sb.., a leap. Icel. Jilaupa, to 
leap ; hlaup, a leap ; A.S. Idcdpan. The word loupe occurs 
in Hav. the Dane. Jam. loiip. 

Low, used to express short of stature ; e.g. low and stiff, short 
and stout. Icel. Idgr, low (the original of our English word 



344 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

lo7i>), is used to express shortness of stature (see CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). \)hor^r enn Idgi " the Short," Idg-vaxinn, short 
of stature, low-grown ; cf. Dan. Iav-be7ict, short4egged. In 
Scotland latgh has the same sense, a laigh man, a short man. 

Low = to blaze, to glimmer with heat. I eel. log, a flame ; Ivga, 
to blaze ; Dan. luc; cf. Lat. lux: See lo2u\{(Z\. Gl. and Jam.). 
The si). Ully-low, bright flame, is perhaps Dan. lillc lite, a 
httle flame. See Jam. and CI. and Gl. ; but neither Dr. Jam. 
nor Mr. Atkinson give a satisfactory derivation of the first part 
of the word. 

Lug — ear. Sw. lugg, forelock (probably a corrupt form of lock). 
" The Lowland Scotch lug, ear, is the same word, only a 
later use of it " (Skeat, Etym. Diet, lug, of which the original 
sense was to pull by the hair, from Sw. lugg). 

LUSK = an idle, worthless fellow. Su. G. loesk, persona fixas sedes 
non habens ; I eel. lliskr, weak, idle ; cf Dan. luske, to sneak, 
skulk, and O.E. lusk, to be idle. See Jam. lusca?!, a lusty 
beggar and thief 

Magin, also Megger = to get strength, improve in health. Icel. 
viegJta, to get strength ; mega, to have strength ; also to be 
well ; Lat. valere. 

Main, adv. = very, greatly. Icel. mcgin, (i) strength ; (2) used 
adverbially, in exactly the same sense as our main, e.g. Jiiegin- 
grimtnr, very fierce ; megin-vcl, very well ; cf also megn, adj., 
mighty, strong. 

Mash = to pour a little water on tea leaves to expand them. 
Su. G. mask, bruised corn mixed with water ; Sw. D. mask; 
Sw. viiisk, brewers' grains ; Dan. ma'ske, to mash. See Skeat, 
Etym. Diet., also Jam. and CI. Gl. mask. 

Mash-fat, Mash-tub = brewing tub. Cf Dan. ma-ske-kar, mash- 
tub. 

Mawk = a maggot. Icel. via'&kr, N. makk, Dan. madike, mag- 
got. See Jam. jnaiccli. 

Meal = the yield of milk from a cow at a given time. In Lincoln- 
shire milk is said to be two, three, four, five meals old ; i.e. 
two, three, four or five half-days have passed since the milk 
came from the cow. (See M. and C. GL, p. 169.) No doubt 
A.S. mal, time, portion of time, would satisfactorily explain 
this pecuHar use of the word; but Icel. vidl (= A.S. 7ncEl) 
seems to furnish a clue to the origin of this expression. A 



GLOSSARY. 345 

secondary meaning of Icel. j/u'd\s meal time; "hence of cattle, 
missa mals, to miss the time, sheep lost or astray for a day so 
that they cannot be milked." Hence vidl-ny/a, milch kine, 
jiidl-nyfr, yielding milk ; mdla-mjolk, milk every meal, morn- 
ing and evening. See CI. and Vigf. Diet, mdl ; cf. Jam. meal ; 
also mcltHh ; both used in same sense as our meal. Meltith, 
or mellel/i, appears to be Icel. i/idl/i^, Dan. maal-iid, meal 
time. 

Megger, to get better. See Magin. 

Midden = a dung-heap. Dan. mdddvn^, a dung-hill, qs. 7iidg- 
dz'ngej Icel. viyki-dyugja, dung-heap. See CI. and Vigf. Diet. 
inyki. See Jam. and CI. Gl. Diiick-middcn. 

.MOSKER = to decay, crumble. Dan. D. musk, mould ; musken, 
mouldy, which Molbech collates with moskered ; cf. Icel. 
mosk, of which, according to Haldorsen, one of the meanings 
is dtist J but CI. and Vigf. give as the only meaning scraps of 
moss. The same word mosker, is used in parts of Scotland, 
but Dr. Jam. ventures on no derivation. But see CI. Gl. 
7niish. 

ZMOUDIWARP = a mole. Icel. mold-varpa, Dan. muldvarp, a 
mole. See CI. Gl. /nouldzewarp, and Jam. modewart, mody- 
wart, motliiewort. 

Muck = (i) mud ; (2) manure (not artificial). Icel. myki, Dan. 
niog, dung. There is a considerable number of compounds 
into which this word enters : muck-cJieap^ muck-fork (cf. Icel. 
myki-reka, muck-rake), i}mckmcnf ='dirt ; muck-ripe — rotten- 
ripe ; muck-stead = a place where manure and refuse are 
placed ; muck-suttle = one who is very dirty, or likes doing 
dirty work ; muck-s%vcat = extreme perspiration. See M. and 
C. Gl. 

Muck out = to cleanse (of stables, etc.). Icel. moka, (i) to 
shovel, (2) to clear away dung from a stable. Icel. vzoka is 
used without a preposition ; and so to muck in Scotland = 
Line. ;;iuck out; but in Shetland it is muck out (see Jam.). 

MUN = must. Icel. munu, will, shall (older form monic). In Hav. 
the Dane 7ito?ie = must. 

MuSH = mosker. Cf. CI. Gl. inush and Jam. mush, j/iushle, to 
consume away. In Scotland there is also the word musk, 
mash, pulp, which Dr. Jam. inclines to connect with mash ; but 
he also mentions Icel. mosk (see mosker). Mr. Atkinson 



346 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

derives the word from led. inosk, but sec moslccrj cf. also 
inusJirooni, which represents the O.Fr. nioiisscroii. 

Nab = to catch. S\v. nappa, Dan. nappe^ to catch, snatch at. 

Natter = to worry, tease. Dan. gnaddre, to grumble ; cf. Icel. 
gnau^a, to rustle, to ring ; gnait'Sa a, to din into one's ears ;. 
gnatf&, a rustling noise, a murmur. (See Jam. and CI. Gl.) 

Naup = a hillock. This is perhaps the same word as ?ioiip, 
noop (Shetl., Dumfr. ; see Jam.), a round-headed eminence, from 
Icel. gni'tpr, a peak. But it may, on the other hand, only be a 
broad pronunciation of knap or knop. 

Neaf = a fist. Dan ;iccve, Icel. hncji, the fist ; JM.E. iieue. It 
appears to have been a word in general use as late as 
Shakespeare. Nevell — to beat with the fist in Holderness. 
(See Jam. and CI. Gl.) 

Near = the kidney. Icel. nxra {ii.pL), the kidneys ; Dan jiyre, 
Ger. nicre ; cf. CI. Gl. 

Near-end = part next to the kidneys. See Near, 

Near-fat = fat about the kidneys. See Near. 

New-bear (pron. newber) = a cow that has lately calved ; also 
called a neiu-bayed cotu. Cf. Icel. ny-bariitgr, a cow that has 
just calved, from hcra^ to bear. New-ber and new-bayed cow^ 
the first given in Brogden, the second in M. and C. GL, are 
evidently two forms of the same expression. 

Nicker = the short, imperfectly sounded neigh of a horse ; also 
as a verb. lct\. gncggja or hncggja, to neigh, A.S . Jincegan (see 
Jam.). 

Noah's Ark = clouds elliptically parted into small wave-like 
forms. If the end points to the sun, it is a sign of rain ; if 
contrary to the sun, of fine weather. This phenomenon is 
called N'oe ship in Cleveland. Mr. Atkinson has a most inter- 
esting note (Append., CI. GL, p. 605) on this expression. 
Quoting from Warend och Widarne, of G. O. Hylten Cavallius, 
he shows that the same expression prevails in parts of 
Scandinavia, and that, in all probability, Noah is a corruption 
of Oden ; Noen, or Noe, being a popular distortion of Oden 
in Scania and some parts of Warend. The substitution of 
ark for ship {^Odois-skcppet), has taken place in Denmark as 
well as in England, while the Cleveland tongue retains the 
ship. The same expression, Noali's Ai'k, is found in Scotland. 

Nurspell and Dandy = the game of hockey (more correctly 



GLOSSARY. 347 

knur). For Knur, see above ; spell is I eel. spila, Dan. 
spille, Ger. spielcn, to plaj-. 

OWERY, or HOWKRY = damp, chill, drizzly. Most probably con- 
nected\vith Icel. jh' (cf. S\v. urvccta, urviider), a drizzling rain. 
See Jam. oorie otirte, oweric. 

OwLER = the alder tree. Icel. olr, an alternative form of clrir, 
an alder tree. 

OwsE = to bale water. See Haze ; and cf. Jam. ouzc. 

Pawt vb. and sb. = to paw, a paw. Dan.^c'/^, Sw.pola, a paw ; cf. 
also Dan. D. pole, to stamp or pound (of earth). See Jam. 
pauf, to paw, to stamp, to push out the feet alternately, etc. 
See also CI. G\. paut Mid poaf, with very similar sense. 

Peff, Peffle, vb. and sb. = to cough, a cough (not of a violent 
cough). Perhaps connected with Dan. pikkc, Sw. picka, to 
palpitate, to tick (of a clock). The change from Z' to y is a 
frequent one. See CI. G\. peck. 

Pink = the chaffinch. This is evidently an unusual form of 
Spink, common in many parts of the North. Sw. D. spink, a 
fieldfare, sparrow ; cf. spinkic, slender (Jam.). 

Pismire = an ant. The first syllable is from the French, and 
refers to the disagreeable smell of an ant-hill ; 7ntfe is M.E. 
mire, ant, from Sw. niyra, Dan. myre, Icel. i>iaurr. See 
pismire (Skeat, Etym. Diet.) ; cf. ?i\?,o pis-mother (Jam.). 

Plough-land = (i) arable land; (2) an obsolete measure of land; an 
ox-gang is an eighth part of a plough-land (see M. and C. Gl.); 
Cf. Icel. plogsland, an acre of land, with of course special 
reference to its tillage. The word plough was most probably 
introduced into English from Scandinavia, and in Claxby 
Pluckacre (qu. ^■.) we may have a word very closely akin to 
plogsland, an acre of land ; but it should be noted that A.S. 
CEcer, leek akr, did not mean a specified c|uantity of land ; it 
was a general term for field. Cf. the surname Akerman, A.S. 
CEcermo7i, a farmer or ploughman. See pleuch-gatjg, as much 
land as can be properly tilled by one plough. Jam., who says : 
" This corresponds to plogland, a measure of land known 
among the most ancient Scythians and all the inhabitants of 
Sweden and Germany." 

PoCKARR'd = marked with small-pox. The second syllable is 
undoubtedly to be traced to Icel. m-r, Dan. ar, a scar; arret, 
scarred. See arr, CI. Gl. ; also Jam. arr, arred. 



348 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Potter (^vb. and sb^ = to poke ; a poker. Su. G. potta, digito 
vel baculo explorare. See Jam. ponf, pouter. 

Prod = to poke, goad. Icel. broddr, spike ; A.S. brord. See 
Stratmann. Cf. Prompt Parv. brod. 

Purr = a poker ; also PuRR or POYER, a long pole used for pushing 
sheep about when washed. Dan. purre, to poke, to stir (the 
fire). See CI. Gl. porr, and Jam. porr and porritig-iron. 

Pywipe — lap- wing, vancllus en's fains. Cf. Dan. vibe, Sw. wipa^ 
kowipa, lapwing. See also w/iai/p = curlew. 

Quandary = perplexity, difficulty. A word at onetime, though in 
different forms (see below), in general and classical use. It is 
used at this day freely by all classes in Lincolnshire. The 
word is a corruption of ALE. lua/idreth, evil plight, from Icel. 
vandrcE^i, difficulty, trouble ; O. Sw. wandrdde. See Skeat, 
Etym. Diet, qua/idary, and Jam. luandrcthe. Skinner gave as 
the derivation Fr. qii'cn dirai jc. 

OUYE (pron. quee) = a female calf. Icel. kinga, a young cow before 
she has calved ; Su. G. quiga. See Jam. qiicy, quy, quay, 
qtiyach, etc. 

Rabble = to gabble. Cf Icel. rabba, to babble ; but perhaps more 
strictly from O. Dutch rabbeleii, to chatter. See Skeat, Etym. 
Diet., and Jam. rabble. 

Rack = clouds or mist driven before the wind. Icel. reka, pret. 
rak, to drive. Etymologically, this is the same word as wreck, 
wrack (see Skeat, Etym. Diet). 

Rackapelt = a riotous, noisy child. Probably from the same root 
as the English word rake, a dissolute man ; O. Sw. racka, to 
run about ; Icel. reika, to wander. Sw. D. has rakkel, vaga- 
bond ; Icel. rcikall ; M.E. rakel, rash, curiously corrupted into 
rake-hell. See Cl.^Gl. ragel, Jam. rack, rackle. Brogden says, 
" rackapelt, properly a worry-skin, but used in the sense of a 
troublesome rascal." It is not probable that ^6'// has anything 
to do with skin (pelt) ; but the first part of our word may 
possibly be connected with Icel. Jirckja, to worry; cf. hrekjottr, 
mischievous ; hrak, wicked, wretched (from hrekja), enters into 
the composition of many words, e.g. Jirak-auga, evil eye ; a 
nickname, Sturl. S. ; hrak-ineuni, a wretch. 

Raff = a rafter. Dan. raft, Icel. raptr (the final r is only the sign 
of the nominative), rafter ; M.E. raft, a beam, extended from 
Icel. rdf a roof See Skeat, Etym. Diet. raft. 



GLOSSARY. 349 

Raff = a worthless fellow. Iccl. rafa^ to ro\'C ; raf, a waif ; cf. also 
Icel. rap and 7-dpa. But it may Ije the O.E. raff, heap, 
rubbish, which we retain in j-iff-raff, and is an expression of 
French origin (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 

Rag = to tease. Cf Icel. ra-gja, to slander; A.S. wrc'gan, io 
accuse. Sec Jam. 7-ag, to rally, rate, reproach. 

Rake — to wander ; generally, but not exclusively, of cattle. Icel. 
rcika, to wander ; hence they say in Lincolnshire, rake of 
pasture, i.e. right of pasture on unenclosed land. Though gene- 
rally used of cattle, it has a wider meaning, e.g. fo riw, "boys 
raking about a close ; " a sore is said to rake and rtm, the riDi 
being probably redundant.^ See Jam. raik. 

Rammil = rubbish of any kind ; in Northamptonshire used of 
stone-mason's rubble. The word is to be traced to Sw. ramla, 
Dan. ramie, to tumble down ; ranimcl, rattling. 

Rammack = to romp. See under RAMMING. 

Ramming = big, fine. Icel. ranir, strong ; cf. Dan. ram. See rain 
(CI. Gl.) : ramsJi (Jam.) We may probably connect the word 
rammack (see above) with Icel. ramr (cf. Jam. ramack, a large 
raw-boned person, speaking and^acting heedlessly) ; or it may 
be traced to Su. G. raama, Icel. h?yma, A.S. kreaman, clamai^e. 
See Jam. rame, to shout. Or again, it may be from O. Teut. 
ravinien, salire. See next word. 

Rannish = violent, rash. Perhaps from Icel. lirani, a blusterer ; 
cf. 1u'a7ia-legr, rude ; possibly connected with Icel. ran, 
robbery. But perhaps ranjifsh may be a dialectical variety of 
Scotch rammish, violent, furious, which Dr. Jam. refers to 
O. Teut. rammen, salire, inire more arietum ; from rammc, 
a ram. 

Rap and rear (M. and C.) ; Rap and rend (Brogdcn) = to gather 
together by any means. There are other varying forms of this 
expression in other districts, e.g. rap aftd rcc, rap and ran, rap 

* The shimmering vapour that rises from and floats over the ground in 
hot weather is called, in some parts of Lincolnshire, Robiu-run-rake. This 
is probably a corruption of Robin-run-rig ; see riiii-ri!^ (Jam.), the rig and 
slack being the rise and fall in the surface of a field (or has it anything to 
do with rig a frolic ? See to run rigs, M. and C. Gl.). Robin is so common 
a name for an English goblin (see Grimm's Teut. Myth. (Stallybr.), vol. ii. 
p. 504), that it can be nothing more than a coincidence, that in Robin there 
is a near approach in sound to the Roggaimbhmc (aunt in tlierye), a German 
goblin. (See Grimm's Teut. Myth. (Stallybr.), vol. ii. p. 476, 477.) 



350 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

and rim. These are all modifications of two Scandinavian 
words, Sw. rappa., to seize, I eel. hrapa, to hurry ; and rccna^ to 
plunder. See Atkinson's remarks on rap and ree (CI. Gl.) ; 
also Skeat, Etym. Diet. 7-ap. 

Rash ; corn is said to be raslt, when it eomes out of the husk very 
easily. The English word rasli is of Scandinavian introduction, 
and represents Dan. Sw. rask, c^uick, rash. In Iceland this word 
is roskr, properly 7'ipe, mature, but only used metaphorically 
in the sense of vigorous. The word now under consideration, 
rash, seems curiously to combine the original sense of roskr, 
ripe, and the ordinary meaning of Dan. 7-ask, c^uick. 

Rashen = to dry, to ripen. leel. roskvask, to ripen. Roskva, the 
maiden follower of Thor, was a personification of the ripe fields 
of harvest. Cf. also I eel. roskna, to ripen, to grow up; and 
roskmn, ripe, mature ; but these words are only used of persons. 
In Shetland, corn that has rushed up with rank luxuriance is 
said to be raskif. 

Rate or Ret = to soak hemp or flax in water, to disengage the 
fibre ; Rated = soaked, said of hay sodden by rain. Dan. rbdnc, 
to steep flax ; cf. raaden, rotten. Icel. rotinn, rotten, is akin to 
reytd, to pluck (as of grass) ; and rotinn is applied especially 
to hair falling off from rottenness, e.g. 7-oti'S skinn, a hide that 
has been tanned, so that the hair fell off. See CI. and Vigf. 
Diet, rotinft. The nearest parallel to our Lincolnshire use of 
the word is to be found in N . roytc hanip, skinn, which has 
exactly the sense of rate. See remarks of Mr. Atkinson (CI. 
Gl.) rait. It is worthy of remark that whilst, in ordinary 
English, the Scandinavian form rotten {rotinn) has taken the 
place of rotted, we have, in Lincolnshire, adopted the word 
rated, which appears to be a sort of compromise between Dan. 
7-aaden and the proper English rotted. 

Rate pit = a pit in which hemp or flax is rated. See Rate. 
Rawm = (i) to push about violently. Perhaps a dialectical variety 
oiratn; cf. Dan. ramme, to strike. (2) to make a loud noise. 
Icel. Iireimr, a scream, a cry ; hraunii, a noisy fellow ; also 
rynir, a roaring ; ry mja, io roar ; romr, shouting ; A.S. hream, 
a noise. See ranie (Jam.). Romcn, mugire, is an O.E. word, 
which Stratmann derives, though somewhat doubtfully, from 
Sw. rama. 
Raup = to shout (Brogden). Dan. raabe, to shout; IctX.Jiropa, 



GLOSSARY. 351 

(i) to slander ; (2) to cry out. A.S. Jircpan^ to call out. See 
Jam. ropc^ roup, CI. Gl. roup. 

Rave = (i) to rout out ; a rave takes place in house cleaning ; (2) 
to pull up, as of flagstones ; (3) ' to rave out, to clean out the 
end of a grip ; (4) to take the lamb from the ewe at birth. 
The word has also other shades of meaning. In the use of 
this word in Lincolnshire, there appears to be a combination of 
the two ideas o( opening and oi forcible abstraction, and it is 
curious that Icelandic has two distinct words, the same in 
sound and in spelling, expressing these two ideas, and not 
unlike our word rave in form. Icel. raiifa, Dan. rlk'e (A.S. 
redjian), means to rob, to spoil. Icel. raufa (A.S. reofan), 
connected with 7'Ji'ffa means to break up, open, rip up. In 
Scotland rave means to take by violence, and this word Dr. 
Jam. traces to Su. G. 7'affa, to rob, which represents Icel. raufa, 
A.S. redfan. We may also take note of the very similar 
Icelandic word irifa, to rip up, disclose. See also Jam. reif. 
reyff, to rob, plunder ; reiff, spoils, with which cf. Icel. rauf A.S. 
7-edf, spoils. See also CI. Gl. reave, to tear away, carry 
off. 

R.\ZZL1NG = very hot (Brogden), who gives as example of its use, a 
razzling day, i.e. a broiling day. In Cleveland to raszle = to 
cook meat at or over the fire, only superficially. The word is 
undoubtedly connected with rasher, and is to be traced to 
Dan. rask, quick ; the idea being that of hasty cooking. See 
Skeat, Etym. Diet, rasher ; see also CI. Gl. raszle, and 
above, Rash and Rashen. It is somewhat remarkable that 
in Lincolnshire there should be three words of peculiar and 
provincial use, that may be traced to Dan. 7'ask, or Icel. 7-dskr 
and roskna. The Lincolnshire meaning of the word 7-azzli?ig 
furnishes an interesting instance of local modification in sense. 
Cleveland evidently preserves the original meaning of the 
provincialism ; cf. also " rizzle, to roast imperfectly, Cumb." 
(Halliwell.) 

Reap up, also, rip up = to spread, circulate (of evil reports). Cf. 
Dan. rippe op, used in exactly the same sense ; see also Icel. 
rippa, to sum up, a word connected with rifja, which comes 
still nearer to the meaning of reap up; rifja, (i) to rake away 
into rows, (2) to repeat ; 7-ifja upp harm si?in, to rip up one's 
sorrows. 



352 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Recklin or RICKLIN = the smallest pig in a litter ; anything weak 
or deformed. This may be identical with Icel. rekingr, an 
outcast, from rcka (prop, vrcka), to drive, thrust. See CI. and 
Vigf. Diet, rekingr. But there is also Icel. rekli?tgr, an out- 
cast ; this, however, is identical with rcklingr or n'kli/igr = a 
flounder cut into strips and dried, which does not combine 
well with our use of the word reckling. Again, it may be Icel. 
rekftingr, an outcast, which is a compound oi hrak, wretched, 
wicked, miserable. It may be further noted that closely con- 
nected with Icel. reka (see above) is rcckja, c|s. vrerkja, to reject ; 
whence rerkiligr, to be rejected ; cf. O. Dan. vrecke, to reject. 
See CI. Gl. lureckling. Mr. Atkinson also quotes from Outzen, 
the S. Jutland, vriig, vragling. 

Reef = a sore on the head. Icel. liryji, a scab ; ryf., skin erup- 
tion ; hrufa^ scab ; hrj/'/fr, scabby ; A.S. Iireof, scab. 

Reight (pron. rait) = right. Icel. ir'tir (for rekfr)., Dan. ;r/, 
A.S. ri/it. 

Reightle = to put in order. Icel. J-Jifa, to put straight, adjust. 
Perhaps when applied to the hair, as it often is, more closely 
connected with _g;'^/*a. See Reightlin-comb. 

Reightlin-COMB = a comb for dressing the hair. This must be a 
local variation, or, more correctly, corruption, of the reeting- 
comb of Cleveland, the reetin or reytin-kceani of Holderness. 
Dan. rede-kam, hair-comb ; rede haaret, to comb the hair. 
Dan. 7'ede = Icel. grei^a (or rei^d), to arrange, disentangle, 
especially of the hair ; grei^a Jiar, to comb or dress the hair ; 
ogreitt Jidr, unkempt hair ; cf. also grei'&a, a comb ; hdr- 
grei^a, a hair comb. See CI. and Vigf. Did. grei'&a; also CI. Gl. 
reetiftg-coiiib. 

Remble or Remmle = to remove. Icel- ry/na, to make room for ; 
Sw. rytnma, to remove ; cf. Dan. romme op., i.e. to clear away, 
hence, to put in order. 

Render = to melt. Icel. renna, to run ; also to melt (as metal in 
a furnace) ; Dan. 7-i/ide, to run, flow ; lyset ri/ider, the candle 
gutters. See CI. Gl. render, Jam. 7-ender and rind. 

Respe = a disease in sheep. Dan. raspe, malanders [hesfe-syg). 

Rift = eructare. Icel. rypta and repta, eructare ; cf. Dan I'crbe. 
See Jam. and CI. Gl. }-ifi. 

Rig-welted = overthrown ; said of a sheep, when lying helpless 
on its back ; same as far-welted. Icel. kfyggr, Dan. fyg. 



GLOSSARY. 353 

A.S. hrycg, rii^ = the back ; Icel. velta, to roll over ; Dan. 
vcclte, A.S. wceltan. 
Rig-welt = to thrasli. Perhaps an adaptation of the above, re- 
ferring to the helplessness of the person thrashed, although 
the position of the object is reversed. Halliwell, however, 
gives ludt, to thrash severely (Norf) ; rig-u>clt may therefore 
be more literally taken as back-tJirash. 
Ripple = to separate the seed of flax from the stalks. Svv. 7rpa^ 
to ripple flax, originally to scratch, rip ; M.E. ripplcn, to ripple, 
cf Norw. ripa, to scratch, pluck asunder ; allied to Icel. rifa, 
to rive ; Scotch ripple, flax-comb (see Skeat, Etym. Diet., 
and CI. Gl. ripple, to scratch slightly). 
Rise = to raise. Icel. rcisa, to raise (the original of Eng. raise) ; 

Dan. rcise. 
RiT = to trim the edge of a path, drain, border, etc., by means of 
a ritter, or ritting knife, Brogden also gives ritler, cutler. Cf. 
ritte (Hav. the Dane), to rip, to make an incision. Icel. rista, 
to cut, carve (of characters on stone) ; Sw. rista^ Dan. riste, 
G. ritzen. Mr. Skeat, in his glossary to Hav. the Dane, con- 
nects it with the Scandinavian forms. Stratmann derives O.E. 
ritte from O.H.G. rizzen. But see also Jam. rit and rat. 
Icel. rita appears to have been borrowed from A.S. puritan 
(see CI. and Vigf. Diet). 
Rive = to split. Icel. rifa, to ri\e, to tear ; Dan. rzV^, Jam. rife, 

rif rive. 
Roaked, Roaked up, Roaped up = heaped up. See M. and C. Gl. 
" he gev me good measure well roaked up." Icel. liroka, to 
fill a vessel above the brim ; hroki, a heap above the brim of 
a full vessel ; connected with hraukr, a rick, pile. See CI. Gl. 
rook, ruck. 
Roan = the roe of a fish. Icel. hrogn, Dan. rogn, roe ; Sw. rom. 
See rownd (CI. GL), which comes very near the M.E. rownc ; 
Jam. ran, raiin. The word roe is of Scandinavian origin ; the 
final n having been dropped through being mistaken for the 
pi. suffix (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 
Rock, Rock-stick = a distaff. Icel. rokkr, Dan. rok, Sw. rock^ 

distaff. 
Roil = to become thick, as beer. The old sense of the word roil 
was (i) to disturb, vex ; (2) to wander about. There is verj^ 
little doubt that rile is the same word ; to rile water, in Essex 

2 A 



354 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

and Suffolk, means to make it muddy. The word may be 
identical with Icek Iirella, to distress (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.) ; 
or may be O.Fr. rocler, roler, to roll. So Skeat, Etym. Diet., 
and Stratmann. Mr. Atkinson suggests I eel. ritgla, to con- 
found ; riigl, a disturbance. 
Rose = to praise, flatter. Icel. /^rJj-rt;, to praise, boast ; Dan. 7-osc, 

Sw. 7-osa, O.E. roscn. Cf. ruse and 7-oosc (Jam.). 
ROUSIN = great, fine. It is dilificult to trace the sense of this ex- 
pletive to rouse ,\v\i\(^ is only another form of rush (see Skeat, 
Etym. Diet.). Is it Dan. rascude (from rase, to fume), and 
which is used exactly in the sense of rousin, i.e. prodigious, 
extreme ? Or, may we trace it possibly to Icel. raus?t, magni- 
ficence, and used in compounds as adj. rausiiar-bi'i, a great 
estate, and adverbially, rausnar-liga, magnificently ? Even 
should r-ousin be from rouse, it is still of Scandinavian origin. 
See Skeat, Etym. Diet, rouse. 
Rout = noise ; Routing = grunting as a pig. Cf. rowte, to roar 
(Hav. the Dane). Perhaps the two words rout, routing, are 
from different sources. Rout may be from Icel. ryta, to squeal 
(of swine) ; Sw. ryta, to roar ; routing may be from Icel. hrjota, 
rjota, A. S. hri'ctan, to snore. 
Ruckle = to breathe with difficulty, like one dying (generally 
used in reference to approaching death). Icel. hrygla, a 
rattling in the throat ; dau'Sa-Juygla, death-rattle ; but Mr. 
Atkinson quotes from Hire, rockia, impedite et cum stridore 
anhelare, which is certainly nearer to the sense of rtickle. He 
also gives N. rukla, to rattle in the throat. See also ruttles 
(Cr. D.), " a noise occasioned by a difficulty of breathing ; 
Belg. rotelen, to grunt." 
RUGGLE = to reel, stagger ; to ruggle on is also used to express 
struggling or rubbing on. Cf. Icel. rugga, to rock a cradle ; 
Norw. rugge, to rock, vacillate ; or is it Dan. ragle, to reel? 
In Shetland and W. Scotland, ruggle = to shake, pull back- 
wards and forwards ; ruggly in Shetland = unsteady, rickety. 
This use of the word would point to rugga, rugge. But Shetl. 
rjiggle is perhaps only the frequentative of ?-ug, to pull, tear, 
which Dr. Jam. connects with Su. G. rycka, trahere, raptare. 
RUMMLE = to rumble. This form agrees with Dan. rumle, to 
rumble ; also with O.E. rummelin, for which Stratmann gives 
Dan. rumle, Dutch rommelen. Skeat, however, claims an 



GLOSSARY. 355 

English origin for the word ritiiiblc, and remarks that the 
b is excrescent, the word really meaning to repeat the sound of 
riiiii. Cf. Chaucer romblc/i, to mutter. 

Sad = stiff, heavy, of bread, land, etc. Cf. Icel. saddr, sated, having 
had one's fill ; A. S. sa-d, O. Sax. sad. In Scotland, the word 
is used of land and bread in the same sense as in Lincolnshire 
('Jam.) ; see also CI. Gl. 

Sag = to sink in the middle. Sw. sacka, to sink down ; cf. Dan. 
sa/cke, to have stern-way ; Low G. sakke, to settle (as dregs) ; 
M.E. saggen. See Skeat, Etym. Diet. ; also Jam. and CI. Gl. 

Sallacking. See Slammock. 

Sax = a knife. Icel. sax\ originally a short heavy sword ; in 
modern usage, a large knife ; A.S. seax, Dan. sax, scissors, 
shears. So in Shetland, to sax = to scarify with a razor or 
other sharp instrument (Jam.), 

SCAFE, sb. = a ne'er-do-well ; vb., to lead a roving life. See Jam. 
scaff, to sponge on other people ; alsoj'^., a parasite ; Dr. Jam. 
traces this word to Su. G. skaffare, Dan. skaffer, one who 
procures food, a caterer. But Dan. skaffe, to procure food, also 
means to eat, to mess, which forms an easy transition to the 
Scotch sense parasite. Scayf appears as a surname in the 
Hundr. R. of Yorkshire. 

SCAFFLE = to equivocate ; also Caffle. Dan. skjcevc, to deviate, 
swerve ; Icel. skeifr, crooked, askew ; skcifa, to wrong. 

SCAIF = awkward. This is probably a distinct word from scafe 
(see above). Cf. Icel. ske/fr, crooked ; Dan. skjccv, wry, 
crooked. But scafe (see above) and scaifmdiy be radically the 
same, and both derived from Icel. skeifr. See CI. Gl. scafe, a 
wild, thoughtless person. 

Scamp = to do work in a careless way. Icel. skafur, skammr, 
short (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Thus scamp is closely connected 
with scant, which is from Icel. skamt, neut. of skatnr. Scamp 
as sb., meaning rascal, is altogether a different word according 
to Prof. Skeat (see Etym. Diet.). 

Scotch = to cut, trim a hedge or tree. Same word as scutch, qu. v, 

SCRAN = poor food. Icel. skran, rubbish (see Jam.). 

Scrat = the devil. Icel. skratti, goblin, monster ; Sw. D. skrate, 
skrat, skret, spirit, ghost. This is the origin of " Old Scratch ; " 
see Aud-lad, Aud-scrat (CI. Gl.). On skratti, see Grimm's 
Teut. Myth. (Stallybrass), vol. ii. p. 480 ff". 



356 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Scree out = to scream. Su. G. sh'ia, to call out ; .vZvz, a shout ; 
O. Fris. scria, to shriek; Dan. D. skrcic, to weep. See Jam. 
screigh and skry . CI. Gl. say, to perceive, appears to be a 
shortened form of descry, which according to Prof. Skeat is 
M.E. descry eu, to discern, from Fr. descrire = descnvre, but 
according to Wedgewood (Contested Etymologies) is rather 
connected with Su. G. s/:ria {L'mc. scree) ; so, too, Mr. Atkinson 
(CI. Gl.). 

Scuffle = to work the land with a scuffler. See Scuffler. 

SCUFFLER (or Skerry) = an instrument for weeding turnips by 
driving the teeth between the rows . The scuffler is probably 
so named from the original sense of scuffle or shuffle, which is 
the frequentative of Sw. skujfa, to push, shove ; I eel. skufa, 
'Dz.n. skiffle, to hoe ; whence skuffe-jern, thrust-hoe ; skttffe-plov, 
horse-hoe, i.e. scuffler. At the same time it is curious to note 
that scuffle, in Scotland, besides meaning the Jiorse-Jwe, is a 
slight touch or graze, and sciffl= to graze, to touch slightly in 
passing, which tempts one to connect scifflw\\h I eel. ska/a, to 
scrape, scratch, shave, and sciffle with skejill (from skafd), a 
scratcher ; eyrna-skejill, an ear-picker. 

SCUFF 9r SCUFT = nape of the neck. I eel. skoft, skopt, hair ; 
O.H.G. skuft, Ger. schopf, top, tuft, hair, head ; schopf-fasscn, 
to lay hold of by the hair. 

SCUMFISH = to overpower (Brogden) . In this form one would have 
little hesitation in putting it down for a corruption of discouifit ; 
but the word appears in Cleveland as scoiujish and scumjish, to 
choke, suffocate ; and in Scotland as scou;fis, sconfice, to stifle. 
Dr. Jam. is inclined to look to I eel. kafna, to be choked, 
kafnan, suffocation, as the root of our provincialism ; cf. also 
I eel. kaf, kafa, kef J a, kof. 

ScUTCH = to whip (Brogden) ; SCUTCHING = the process of dress- 
ing flax ; Hutching and Scutching = fidgeting about. 
Scutch — scotch, to cut with narrow incisions. "Scotch, sb. is 
a slight cut, such as was inflicted by a scutcher or riding whip 
(cf. to scutch, to whip) ; from prov. Eng. scutch, to beat slightly, 
to dress flax ; Norw. skoka, skukti, a swingle for beating flax ; 
allied to Sw. skdktaP Skeat, Etym. Diet, scotch ; cf. also Dan. 
skjcette, to beat flax. See Hutch, above. 

Sea-maw = sea-mew. Dan. luaage, Icel. uuir, A.S. mcBW, M.E. 
in awe. 



GLOSSARY. 357 

Seaves = rashes (Brogden). Icel. scf, S\v. siif, Dan. siv, a rush ; 
probably the origin of our sieve (M.E. sivc\ from its being 
originally made of rushes ; cf. scavcs (Cr. D.). 

Seck = sack. Cf. scckes (Hav. the Dane), Icel. sckkr, Dan. seek, 
A.S. sacc, M.E. sakj but all from Lat. saccics^ which appears to 
have been introduced from Egypt. (See Skeat, Etym. Diet.) 

Seg = a boar gelded at full age. In Cleveland and Scotland this 
term is applied to a bull under similar circumstances, buU-seg. 
Dan. D. sceg or sccgi with exactly the same meaning as our 
Lincolnshire word has ; also .Sw. D. sigg. (See CI. Gl.) 

Shag-boy also Shag-foal = a ghost ; the shag-foal is so-called, 
because supposed to be like that animal. This appears to be 
a distortion oi haitg-bid^z. cairn-dweller, a ghost. For Lincoln- 
shire use of shag-boy, see In the Coimtiy, Essays by Rev. 
M. G. Watkins, Rector of Barnoldby-le-Beck. This interpre- 
tation is to be found in Anderson's Introd. to the Orkneyinga 
Saga, p. ci. 

Shill up = to come away easily, as weeds from loose soil. This 
may be a form of Icel. skiljd, to separate, to part. See Skell. 

.Shive = a slice. Dan. skive, a slice ; skive, to slice ; Icel. ski/a, a 
slice ; ski/a, to slice. See Skeat, Etym. Diet, shiver (2). 

.Shiver = a splinter. Diminutive oi shive. 

Sid = the fine mud which accumulates in a drain or gutter. Perhaps 
connected with Dan. si, a strainer; sie, to strain, filter, p.p. 
siet ; Icel. sia, to filter, and sia, a sieve. 

SiLE, .y^. = a wooden bowl, with linen bottom for straining milk. 
Dan. si and sil, a strainer ; Sw. sil. Icel. sia, 

.SiLE, vb. (i) to strain milk ; (2) to rain fast ; (3) to sile away = to 
faint away. All these meanings are found reproduced exactly 
in Cleveland ; see the remarks of Mr. Atkinson. Sw. sila, to 
strain ; N. sila, strain, drip, rain fast ; Norw. silre, to trickle. 
Low G. silen = to draw off water ; and some such sense was 
probably once attached to the word si/e in Lincolnshire, for in 
Hundr. R. we read of Humbelbec Syle. See also Jam. sej', 
which agrees with Lane, sye, to strain through a sieve ; cf. 
Dan. sie, Icel. sia. 

.Skell = (i) to twist, as wood warps in the sun ; (2) to set awry ; 
(3) to overturn. Cf. CI. Gl. skee/, skell, to tilt, and skelly, to 
squint, both of which Mr. Atkinson traces to Icel. skcela. 
There can be no doubt that skelly represents Icel. skcela, to 



358 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

make a wry face ; Dan, skelc, to squint. And this may be the 
origin of Lincolnshire skell in (i) and (2). But, in the third 
sense, to overturn, may not Dr. Jam. be right in his surmise 
that it is from Icel. skiija, to separate ? See Jam. skail. 
Skilja is represented in Danish by skjclne. See also skale, to 
disperse (Cr. D.). Perhaps, however, it may be connected with 
Icel. skella, to slam ; see below Skelp. 

SkellUM = a rogue. Dan. skjclni^ Icel. skelmir, Su. G. skclin, 
a rogvie ; Ger. sclichii. .See CI. Gl. skclm, Jam. sJielm. 

Skelp = to throw down (as of a load). Icel. skdla, to slam (of a 
door) ; also skella af, to strike clean off, but esp. cf nz^r skell f, 
thrown down (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). Skelp, sb. = a slap over 
the breech with the open hand. Icel. skella is used exactly in 
this sense ; skella a Icci'in, to smack the thigh Avith the open 
palm ; rass-skella, podicem manu verberare ; skellr, a flogging. 
Dr. Jam. and Mr. Atkinson remark that Icel. skelfa, to give 
a shaking, is also used in the sense of skelp, pereello ; CI. and 
Vigf. do not give this meaning, but, under aitst-ina^r, they 
give " aust-manna-skeljir, m. ' skelper ' (conqueror, terror) of 
the East men, a nick-name" (Landn.). 

Skelping, sb. - {\) a thrashing ; (2) adj. and adv., big, very 
("skelping big chech at Lincoln," M. and C. Gl.). For (i) 
see above. (2) Icel. skelfiiig is used in same sense, viz. as an 
expletive, corresponding to our slang use of a^vfidly (see CI. 
and Vigf Diet.). We also have the word skelper, something 
very large, probably connected with Icel. skella, to slam ; 
skellr, a loud splash ; skelli-hlatr, roaring laughter ; cf. also 
skjalla. 

Skep — a wooden measure, e.g. peck-skep. Icel. skeppa, the 
modern form of skjappa, a bushel measure ; Dan. skjeppe, 
skccppe, a half bushel. See skep (CI. GL), skeb and skep (Jam.), 
In a very early deed of gift to the cell of Sandtoft, we find 
mention of sex sceppas ordei, six skeps of barley (Dugd. Mon. 
Angl., vol. iii. p. 617). 

Skerry (for meaning, see Scuffler). Dan. skjcer, a ploughshare ; 
Norw. skcFre, a coulter ; Dan. skjccrr, to cut ; Icel. skera, 
A.S. seer art. 

Skerry = impatient, cross, vexed. This must be identical with 
Scotch skeer, skeerie, excited ; also skerie, restive. O.E. sker, 
pavidus; from Icel. skjarr, shy, timid (see Stratmann), may be 



GLOSSARY. 359 

the original of this word. The change of meaning is quite 
natural. 

Skief = a thin iron wheel, fitted into ploughs on some kinds of 
land. Cf. I eel. skeifa, a horse-shoe ; and of. Scotch skevrel, 
to move unsteadily in a circular manner ; from skcifr, askew ; 
Dan. skjcci', wry ; skjccvc, to slant. 

Skiff = a shovel ; generally a wooden shovel used for corn. 
Icel. sJci'fa^ to shove ; Dan. skuffc, a shovel and to shovel. 
This word appears to be identical in its origin with Scotch 
scoof, a battle-door, and cf. also skivct (Jam.). 

Skime = (i) to sc^uint ; (2) scowl ; (3) to give stealthy, inquisitive 
glances. Icel. skiina, to look all round (of an eager restless 
look) ; Su. G. sktanogd, qui obscure vidct. See skitnc (CI. Gl.), 
with a somewhat different sense ; also ski/ne (Jam.), to glance 
with reflected light, which is from A.S. scimiajt, to shine, a 
word most likely connected with Icel. ski ma. 

Skirl = to shriek. See CI. Gl. Mr. Atkinson gives many Scan- 
dinavian words akin to this, esp. Su. G. sk7-aU, skrdll, skbrl, 
vociferatio ; Dan. skraah\ to bawl ; Dan. D. skryle, to squall. 

Skive =: to look with upturned eyes (Brogden). Cp. Dan. skjccvc, 
to slant, v.a. and n.; skjccvc til, to look askance at ; cf. Scotch 
skaivie, skivic, harebrained (Jam.), and see Skief, above. 

Skreek = a shriek, screech. Icek skrcekr, a shriek ; skrcekja, to 
shriek ; Sw. skrika, Dan. skrige, M.E. scriken. See Jam. 
screik. 

Skrimp = a miser. Cf Scotch scrimpic, niggard, which Dr. 
Jamieson connects with Sw. krimpa, little ; with which we may 
compare Dan. krympe, to shrink ; kryiiipcl, a stunted tree ; 
krympling, a cripple. 

Slack = a hollow, a depression in the ground. Icel. slakki, a 
slope on a mountain edge ; Dan. slag, a hole (in a road). See 
slack, slak (Jam.). 

Slake = (i) to smear ; (2) to dry crockery, etc., badly, so that 
dirty marks are left. Su. G. sleka, Icel. sldkja, Dan. slikke, 
to lick ; cf. Jam. slaik. 

Slammock = (i) to be untidy ; (2) to move awkwardly ; also 
shamjiiock. Icel. slam ma, to shamble along, to walk like a 
bear. But in Scotland slammikin means a drab, a slovenly 
woman, which Jam. connects with Su. G. slcm, turpis. 

Slape = slippery. Icel. sleipr, slippery ; sleppi; slippery^ ; cf. 



360 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

also Dan. slibc^ to grind ; slebcn, polished ; slebeii-tunge^ glib 
tongue. See CI. Gl. slape. 

Slate = to rebuke, to drive away with abuse. I eel. sletta, to slap, 
to dab ; esp. of liquids ; also sletta, sb., a blot, a dab ; ble/c- 
sletta, a blot of ink ; bak-sletta, an attack in the rear. But see 
Scotch ^A?//, to depreciate, abuse, which Dr. Jam. derives from 
sletta, to level. 

Slattery = rainy, especially applied to har\cst time, hence, 
wasteful ; or possibly vice versa, rainy from wasteful. For the 
sense of rainy we must connect this word with sleet. Norw. 
sletta, sleet (so named from dashing in one's face) ; sletta, to 
fling ; Icel. sletta, to slap, dab (see above Slate). For the 
other sense, viz. luasteful, we may compare slat toy with slattern, 
an untidy woman, from prov. E. skitter, to waste, throw about, 
frequent, of slat, to dash or throw about. The origin is the 
same with that of sleet (see above). See Skeat, Etym. Diet. 
slattern, sleet. 

Slaver = spittle. Icel. slafra, to slabber (like a cow when 
grazing) ; slafr, slabber ; Norw. slaffe, to slabber. Slaver bib, 
a bib round a child's neck, may be compared with Icel. 
slafu-speldij but Icel. slefa appears to be Lat. saliva. 

Slawk = slimy weeds found in drains. Cf. slake, slaiik, oozy 
vegetable substance in the bed of a river (Jam.), who derives 
the word from Su. G. slak, laxus, remissus, from softness to 
touch, and adds that Fucus vesiculosies is called slake in some 
parts of Sweden. Perhaps it is more directly connected with 
Icel. slag, slagi, dampness ; esp. dampness in the walls of 
houses ; cf. sloke, scum or slime, that rises to the surface of 
stagnant water (CI. GL). 

Sleck = to extinguish fire, quench thirst. Icel. slbkva, to ex- 
tinguish (of fire), to quench (of thirst). Dan. sliikke. 

Sleck, sb. = drink. Same derivation as sleck, to extinguish. 

Sled or Sleed = a sledge. Icel. sle^i, Dan. sla:de, sledge ; M.E. 
slede. N.B. Slcd-roof, i.e. slanting roof, is probably con- 
nected with sledge only in a very indirect way ; cf, sled, a- 
slant (Jam.). " O.E. sleet or aslete = oblique ; adverbium. 
Prompt. Parv." These words are connected with slide. 

Slent = slant. M.E. slenten, to slope ; from Sw. D. slenta, sldnta, 
causal of slinta, to slide. The English adj. slant answers to 
Sw. D. slant, slippery. Cf. Jam, sclent, to slope, etc. 



GLOSSARY. 361 

Slockened = soaked, generally of land. Perhaps this word 
represents p.p. slokinu, from slokva, to slake ; but more likely 
is the p.p. of Scotch slokiii., to quench. Sec Jam. sloldu, 
slokm/i, sd., a thorough soaking, which Ur. Jam. derives from 
Su. G., s/ocina, extinguere ; cf. I eel. sloJaia, to be extinguished ; 
O.E. slokkyn = s/eHyu, extinguo. 

Slubber = (i) to kiss loudly; (2) to throw food about. Dan. 
slubrc, to slabber, slop ; Sw. D. slubbra, to slubber, be dis- 
orderly ; frequent, of Sw. D. slubba, to mix liquids carelessly, to 
be careless. This last comes near to our second meaning 
(see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 

Sludge = soft mud. Cf Icel. sludda, a clot of spittle ; Dan. sli/d, 
sleet. 

Sluther = watery mud. Icel. sludda, Dan. slnd; see above, 
Sludge. 

SlsiACK = to slam (of a door). So Dan. sinakke ; smcckkc en Dor i, 
to slam a door. 

Smittle, Smit = to infect ; SMiTTLiNGand Smittixg = infectious. 
Su. G. smitta, Dan. smitte, Sw. s/niifa, to infect ; cf also A.S. 
smiting, contagion. See smittin and smittle (Jam.) and sjuit 
(CI. Gl.). 

Smooting, SMOOCHIN = (i) a narrow passage between two houses ; 
(2) the run of a rabbit or hare through a hedge. Dan. smutte, 
a secret entrance, a passage ; smuttc-vei, a by-way ; smiit-hid, 
a hiding-place (cf. smotit-hole, CI. Gl.) ; smutte, to slink ; cf 
Norse smotta, Icel. sindtta, a narrow lane. 

Smuice = the run of a hare through a hedge. Icel. sniji'iga, to 
creep through a hole ; smuga, a narrow cleft to creep through ; 
Dan. sinyge ; cf. A.S. smngan, to creep, to flow or spread 
gradually. See sniook, snioot (Jam.), sinoot, smout (CI. GL). 

Snape = to stop by coercion, to force, to correct sharply. Icel. 
sneypa, to outrage, disgrace ; also, in modern usage, to chide ; 
Dan. s)iibbe, to scold. See snub (Skeat, Etym. Diet.), also 
snipe (Jam.). 

Snape, or Sneep, adj. = not right sharp, silly (Brogden). Icel. 
sndpr, a dolt. See Skeat, Etym. Diet. snob. 

Snaw-wreath, Snaw-reek = a snow-drift. Icel. snjo-hri'S, a 
snow-storm, which CI. and Vigf Diet, connects with snozu- 
wreath; but, in view of the great difference in the sense of the two 
words, and also of the fact that drifts take very fantastic forms. 



362 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

and often appear to wreathe the banks and hedges, it may l^e 
doubtful whether we need go beyond ivreatJi for an explanation. 
The Scotch form, lurtde, favours the derivation given by CI. 
and Vigf. See Jam. wreath and wride. It is possible that 
there has been some confusion between the two words snjo- 
hri^, snow-storm, and sjijo-drif, snow-drift. The reek in s?mzo- 
reek, is probably unconnected with wrcatli in snaw-wreath, and 
is most likely A.S. Jircac, Icel. hraukr, a heap. 

Sneet = to sneer (Brogden). Icel. snci^^ a taunt, a sarcasm ; snei^a, 
to cut ; also metaph. of sarcasm. See below, Snide. 

Snerp, Snerrup, to wither up ; said indifferently of wind, sun, or 
frost. Dan. snerpe, to contract ; Icel. snarpr, rough, keen 
(used of weather) ; of. also sncrpi, sharpness (of frost) ; also 
stierpa. 

Snickers or Snicker-sneeze. This is a phrase for frightening 
children. Mr. Peacock's illustration will best explain the 
term : " I'll snicker-sneeze you ; the snickers is all ready 
hingin' up i' the passage." A snicker-snee was a large knife. 
A sjiccd iwesi-ns provincially a scythe, from A.S. S7n'Saii^ to cut.. 
Snickers are snippers, i.e. shears (see note by Prof. Skeat to 
snicker-sneeze in M. and C. Gl.). For snickers., see Icel. snikka 
(qs. snikka) to nick, to cut. Cf. O.E. phrase, snick and S7iec ; 
also Scotch snagger-sncc, a large knife. 

Snick-snarls = hitches, loops, twists, knots. Icel. snarr, hard- 
twisted (of a string). Perhaps the first syllabic may be con- 
nected with Dan. snegl, snail, which, in compound words, is 
frequently used in the sense of spiral, winding. See the 
remarks of Mr. Atkinson, CI. Gl. snickle. 

Snide = cold, cutting (of weather). Icel. snci'S, a slice ; metaph., 
a taunt, a sarcasm ; stinga snei'S, to cut with sarcasm ; sncr&a, 
to cut into slices, also used metaph. ; A.S. sni^an. See snithc, 
cutting, "a snithe wind" (Cr. D.). 

Snook = to scent (as a dog) (Brogden). Su. G. snoka, insidiose 
scrutari ; Ihre, snoka efter en, to dog one. See Jam. snokc, 
snook, to smell at objects like a dog. 

Snug = close, e.g. keep it snug ; SNUG AGAINST = close to. The 
Eng. snug is from Icel. snbggr (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). Our 
provincial use of the word comes nearer than the ordinary use 
to the original sense. Icel. snbggr, bald, short, smooth of 
hair, etc. ; metaph., sudden, brief ; snbggt, soon, at once. 



GLOSSARY. 363 

Snyte = to blow the nose by means of finger and thumb. I eel. 
snyta, to blow the nose; Sw. snyta, Dan. S7iyde. Cf. ^///V/, 
Shetland ; snitc^ Scotland (Jam.). 

SOE = a tub, of various kinds, and varying to some extent with the 
locality. Icel. sdr, a large cask;,Sw. sa, Dan. saa. So — 
large tub (Hav. the Dane). In some parts of Lincolnshire 
soe is used especially of the viilking-pail; thus, in modern 
usage in Iceland sdr is used of large vessels in a dairy (see 
CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 

SOGGER = anything big or heavy ; SOGGING = large. Cf. Norw. 
stigg, big, thumping fellow ; sieggc, a sow. 

Sole-tree = a piece of wood for sustaining something fixed to the 
ground. Cf. Icel. si'il and snla, a pillar. Dan. sotlc, Ger. 
sdulc, column, post, jamb. Cf Scotch sole-free, which has a 
meaning kindred to Line, sole-tree, but rather more specific. 

Soles = the wooden bars that support the bottom of a cart. Pei'- 
haps from Icel. S2il, as above. 

Spell = the trap used in the game of trap, bat, and ball. Icel. 
spil, Dan. spil, Sw. spcl, game. See Jam. speal, spcl, CI. Gl. 
Spell. 

Spile or Spile-peg = the vent peg of a cask ; so. Spile-hole. 
Dan. spile, a peg. Scotch spile-tree (a small pole, on which 
fishermen hang their lines when cleaning their hooks), may 
have the same origin, although it is not suggested in Jam. 
Diet. 

Spole, Spool = a reel on which cotton is wound. Su. G. spole, 
Icel. spola, a weaver's shuttle ; Dan. spole, Ger. spiile. See 
CI. Gl. spool. Jam. spule, spool. 

Spreckled = spotted, speckled. Icel. spreklottr, speckled ; Sw. 
spriicklig (see Jam. and CI. GL). 

Spretch (i) a chicken is said to have spretched, when the 
shell is broken, but bird not yet out ; (2) to severely injure 
another. For (i) cf Icel. spretta, to spirt out, to start, to 
spring ; spratt ttpp Idssin, up sprang the latch. For (2) cf. 
Icel. spretta, causal of preceding, which, among other mean- 
ings, has the sense of ripping up, splitting. 

Spud = an implement for cutting up weeds, a brod, a spittle staff. 
Dan. spyd, a spear; Icel. spjot, a spear (properly a wooden 
staff) ; spyta, a spit, a stick ; spiidde, cultellus. Prompt. Parv. 

Squib = to run about; squibbing about = moving, dodging about. 



364 LINCOLNSHJRE AND THE DANES. 

ALE. sqiiippcn, swippcn^ to move swiftly, fly, etc., from Icel. 
svipa, to flash, dart ; svipr, a swift movement ; Norw. svipa, 
to run swiftly. For the history and vicissitudes of squib; see 
Skeat's Etym. Diet. See squibe (Jam.), " a top is said to squibe, 
when it runs off to the side ; " hence Dr. Jam. derives it from 
Icel. skeifr, obliquus. 

Stagg = (i) a young colt ; (2) a young cock or turkey. For 
derivation, see Stegg. 

Staggarth = a stack-yard. Icel. stakk-gar&r, Dan. stakke-have 
{have, in Denmark, having, to some extent, taken the place 
of garf>r). 

Staithe = a landing-place ; a part of the foreshore kept up by 
means of faggots. Icel. jA/S, a roadstead or harbour ; N. 
st'6%, a landing-place ; Dan. sted. But in O. Dan. it is stathc. 
There was, a.d. 1280, a place in Alkborough called Stethe. 
{Notes and Queries, Feb. 4, 1882.) See also Chapter x. 

Stale. Dan. stalle (om heste). And see Skeat, Etym. Diet, stale. 

Stall = to tire, to surfeit. In all probability this word is con- 
nected with stale, and for the connection of stale with Icel. 
stallr, stall, crib, see Skeat, Etym. Diet. Or perhaps we may 
trace the Lincolnshire use of the word more immediately to 
Dan. stalde, to stall-feed ; hence the transition to surfeit is 
easy. 

St\NG, Stong = (i) a measure of land, a rood (obsolescent) ; (2) 
an eel-spear. Icel. stoiig, Dan. staug, A.S. ste?tg, a pole. 
For the former use of this word as a measure of land, see 
p. 134 in connection with Stenigot. For (2) see Stang-GAD. 

In common with other parts of N.E., ridiftg the stang'xs, 
or was, a form of punishment inflicted upon a wife-beater in 
Lincolnshire. Formerly the ofiending party was forcibly 
mounted across a stang or pole, and was accompanied by 
rough music, i.e. the beating of cans, the blowing of horns, etc. 
Later, a proxy has done duty for the offender. For details of 
this custom as practised in Lincolnshire, see M. and C. Gl., 
p. 237 ; Anderson's Pocket Guide, p. 18 ; and Halliwell's Arch, 
and Provincial Words. See also Jam., who connects the 
custom with the very ancient ni%-stbng, for which see CI. and 
Vigf. Diet. «/«. 

Stang = a sudden spasm of pain. Icel. sta/jga, to prick, goad ; 
Dan. sta/ige (cf. CI. GL and Jam.). 



GLOSSARY. 365 

Stang-GAD = an eel-spear (cf. Jieil-sfang). I eel. stcmga, to prick ; 
used also of spearing fish ; Jiski-stling, a fishing-spear. So 
Dan. stange, sfange aal. Sec Hell-stang. Sta/jg, however, in 
stang-gad, may very likely be Icel. stojig, a pole, and in tliis 
case there would be no redundancy in gad, for which see 
above. 

Stare = a starling. Icel. starn, stari, A.S. and Dan. steer. 

Star-thack = a coarse grass formerly used for thatching. Cf. 
Hav. the Dane, star, a kind of sedge. Icel. storr, gen. 
starar, bent grass ; Lat. carex, Dan. star, stargrces, sedge. 
See Jam. starr ; see also Star-car, Chapter xi. 

Stather = a landing-place. See Chapter x. 

Stauter = to waver, reel, stagger. Cf. Icel. steyta, to push ; stcyta 
fot sinn 7>i^ stcinij Matt. iv. 6 ; stcyting, a stumbling ; stcytr, 
a capsize ; also staitta, to strike, to stutter. See Dan. stbde 
and its various uses, and cf. stottcr, stoitcr, to stagger (Jam.). 

Staver = (i) the step of a ladder ; (2) the bar of a hay-rack. 
Dan. staver, a stake ; Icel. stafr, Eng. staff, of which stave is 
only another form (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). Icel. stafr is used 
to express the stave of a cask. 

Stee = a ladder. Icel. stigi, a step or ladder ; Dan. stigc, Dan. 
D. (S. Jutl.) sti, steps up and over a wall, a ladder. See CI. 
Gl. stee, stegh. 

Steer = steep. From- the fact that Icel. storr, A.S. star, has 
assumed the form of steir in Scotland (also stterc, stier) with 
the sense oi strong, rongh, it is not difficult to suppose that the 
Lincolnshire steer is from the same origin. There is an affinity 
to the Lincolnshire use of stccj', in the use of Icel. storr j storr 
seer, a high sea ; stor-ve^r, rough weather ; cf. Shetl. stoor, a 
stiff breeze. And cf stern', stcrrstr, comp. and sup. of storr. 
Steer, steep, is by no means confined to Lincolnshire. See 
M. and C. Gl. for its use in North Yorkshire, and Halliwell for 
its use in the West of England. 

Stegg = a gander. Icel. steggr, steggi, a cock bird ; andar-steggi , 
a drake (CI. and Vigf. Diet.). The English word stag is Icel. 
steggi, and the Lincolnshire dialect preserves, to a great 
extent, the original sense, e.g. tiirkey-stag, cockerel-stag, etc. 
See steg, gander, CI. Gl. and Jam. 

Stick and Stower = the whole of a person's goods and chattels. 
For stoiuer see below. Stick maj- be Dan. stykkc, a piece ; 



^66 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

loo stykkcr k^'ccg^ a hundred head of cattle ; styk-gods, 
general cargo on board ship ; A.S. sticce, a piece ; Icel. styk/d, 
a piece ; / dllum siiiiim siykkjuin, in all its parts ; Ger. stiick. 
The Scotch equivalent of this Lincolnshire phrase is stick and 
stow, and stick is referred by Dr. Jam. to stake; but the word 
sieik = stick, in the sense of piece, is still used in that country. 
Stiddy or Stithy = a blacksmith's anvil. Icel. ste^i, an anvil ; 
Sw. stii^, allied to sta'&r, a fixed place, named from its firmness. 
See Skeat, Etym. Diet, stit/i. 
Stiff = stout (of the person). This is most likely only a pro- 
vincial use and sense of the ordinary English word ; but as it 
is generally applied to persons of stumpy growth, it is not 
impossible that the word may be connected with Icel. styfa, to 
curtail ; styfSan stert, a docked tail. Styfa is connected with 
sti'if7', sti'ifi, stufa, a stump ; also found as a proper name 
(Landn.). The change in vowel, from sti'/fr, styfa, to stiff, would 
find almost a parallel in Scotch steeve, steive for stuff (see 
Jam.). Stiff is used in the sense of stout in Cleveland, and 
stive, steeve, in Scotland = firm, compact, of the frame of an 
animal. 

Stint = an allotment, generally of work. Icel. stytta (qs. styntd), to 
shorten ; cf. stuttr. The radical idea in this provincial use of 
the word stint appears to be that of limit. A stint {i.e. an 
allotment) would be that part which is cut oft' from the whole. 
So, in Lincolnshire, a common is said to be stinted, when the 
manor court has put a timit to the number of cattle which 
may be depastured on it by each common-right holder (see M. 
and C. Gl.). With this sense we may compare the use of 
the word stint in Craven ; " stint, a limited number of cattle- 
gaits in common pastures " (see Cr. D.). Stint is very closely 
connected with stunt (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.) ; so, in Lincoln- 
shire, an animal is said to be stinted, when its growth has been, 
arrested, see M. and C. Gl. See stent (Jam.), with which cf 
M.E. stintan, stetitafi. 

Stocken = to check the growth ; Stocken'd = having its growth 
arrested. Cf. Icel. stakka, a stump : stakka^r and stokkottr 
(Dan. stakket), curtailed, short. Or possibly we may connect 
stocken more directly with Dan. stcekke, to clip (of wings) ; 
stcekning, clipping ; stakket, short. Stocking Plantation is a 
not uncommon local name, and the allusion may be to cutting 



GLOSSARY. 367 

down, and to consequently arrested growth. It is possible that 
slacken represents Ger. siauchcn^ to stem, to dam. 

Stot = a steer. I eel. sti'itr^ a bull ; Dan. stud, a bullock (over 
four years old). See Jam. and CI. Gl. slot. See also Skeat, 
Etym. Diet, stoat, which is the same word. 

Stot = an iron bar to prevent wood from falling from timber carts. 
Dan. stotte, a prop, support, stay ; sto, stode, to steady, sup- 
port ; Icel. sto^, post, prop. 

Stower and Daub = a building of post, wattles, and mud ; 
synonymous with stud and mud. Icel. staicrr, a stake ; staiira- 
gar^r, a paling ; Dan. stavcr. " Dan. D. starve, the staves or 
stowers, inserted between the timbers in the wooden frame- 
work of a wall, which is intended to be plastered, or coated 
with clay." See CI. Gl. stour. 

Stower = boat-hook, also a pole for pushing boats along. Icel. 
staurr, see above. 

Stowp = a post, of wood. Su. G. stolpc, IceV stolpi, Dan. stolpc, 
a post, pillar. "Stope(in old Lincolnshire records) meant a 
post or pillar, and is spelt stiilp" (Brogden). 

.Stowp-miln = a wooden mill erected on posts. Icel. stSlpi and 
inybia. 

Strick or Strickle, the instrument with which scythes, etc., are 
sharpened. Icel. strji'ika, strykja, to stroke, rub, wipe ; Sw. 
stryka, Dan. stryge, to stroke, strygc en Kniv, Le = to sharpen 
a knife, scythe ; stryge-spaan — strickle. See strickle (CI. GL). 

Stridden ; said of wheels when they get too far apart, by run- 
ning in ruts. Cf. Dan. strittc, to straddle ; Jam. striddle. 

.Strop = to draw the last milk from the teats of a cow ; Strop- 
PINGS = the last milk that comes before the udder is empty ; 
also Streakings ; see also stropped milk cow (Hallivvell), 
applied to a cow about to calve ; in Scotland, strippings, 
stribbings {strip, stripe) ; in Craven strippings, to which form 
our streakings seems to approximate (unless streakings be from 
Icel. strykja, to stroke, rub, wipe ; Dan. stryge). The words 
strop, strappings, slrippi?igs are explained by Dan. D. strippe, to 
milk ; observe especially the expression strippe en ko, to milk 
the few drops a cow gives before calving time. Strippe is pro- 
bably connected with Eng. strip, A.S. strypan, O. Dutch stroopen 
(a form which may account for our strop), O.H.G. stroufen, 
stringere, exuere ; O.E. stritpen, Dan. D. strippe {sqq Molbech), 



368 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Strunt = the denuded tail of a quadruped or bird ; also, i<b.^ to 
dock a horse's tail. This is a nasalized form of stmt j Norw. 
strict = a spout, a nozzle. Icel. stn'itr is a sort of hood, sticking 
out like a horn, the original idea being to stick out stiffly ; so 
L. Ger. striitt, rigid, stiff; see Skeat, Etym. Diet, stntt (i). 
" Ihre gives strunt as meaning the earliest sprouts of beech 
and pine in spring." CI. Gl. strunt. 

Strut — a prop or stay in a roof. Probably from its stiffness, or 
perhaps from its sticking out from the body of the building. 
See Skeat, Etym. Diet, strut (2). 

Stunt = (i) cut off abruptly, also steep ; (2) sullen, obstinate. 
Su. G. sttmt., stutt., truncatus ; Icel. stuttr, stunted, short ; S\v. 
stunta, to shorten (see CI. GL). For (2) we find the nearest 
parallel in A.S. stunt, stupid. 

Sugg = to deceive. Perhaps from Dan. sugc, Icel. sjuga, to suck ; 
A.S. sucan. The phrase " sucked in," i.e. taken in, is common 
in Lincolnshire, as elsewhere. 

SWAPE = (i) sweep of a scythe ; (2) a lever (as in a swape-well) ; 
(3) a large oar for propelling vessels in a calm. Icel. sveipa, 
to sweep, swoop ; svipr, a swoop ; A.S. studpan, O.E. swepen. 
The third meaning may be connected with the idea of leverage 
as in (2) ; but if w^hat we call the svjcep of the oar gave rise 
to it, there is a curious parallelism in Icel. bldu-svcipr, a 
poetical word for an oar, lit. wave-sweeper. See CI. and Vigf. 
Diet, svcipr. 

Swatch = a low place, where water stands. Swatch-way — a 
depression in the sea-shore, where water stands at low tide. 
This may be connected with Sw. D. simsska, to make a 
squashing noise, as Avhen one walks with water in one's boots. 
In Halliwell we find swash, si?., a torrent of water, hog-wash ; 
also vb., to splash water about ; adj., soft, cjuashy ; siuash- 
bucket, the common receptacle for the washings of the scullery ; 
swash way, a deep swampy place in large sands in the sea. 
At the mouth of the river Dee we find, on the ordnance 
map, Swash, Hilbre Swash, and Bug Swash. Bug is evidently 
Icel. btigr, a winding ; " so Icelanders call the bight or bend 
of a river, brook, creek or the like " (CI. and Vigf. Diet.). The 
word is closely allied to Eng. bight, Dan. /w^/, from buge (Eng. 
bow^, to bend. 

-SWAUL or Swill = to throw water on the pavement ; also to drink 



GLOSSARY. 369 

hard. lce\.sva/la,to drink hard ; siml/.a. drunken bout ; S7/a/- 
lari, a debauchee. Swill is from A.S. swilian^ to wash ; this 
form is used in Hav. the Dane ; disJies swilen, to wash dishes. 

SWEIGH = to lean heavily upon. Eng. szvay, from Icel. sveigja, to 
bend aside ; Dan. svaie, to swing. 

SwiPPLE or Swivel = that part of the flail which strikes the corn. 

Icel. sveipa, from obsolete svipa, to sweep ; svlpa, a whip ; 

A.S. swip ; cf. Dan. svippe, to crack a whip ; svobe, a whip. 

S%vipplc is souple in Scotland, and is connected by Dr. Jam. 

with sicpple. For swivel, see below, SwiVEL-EYE. 

SwiVEL-EYE = a squint. Ictl. sveifla, to swing or spin round ; 
svif, a swinging round ; svifa, to ramble, swerve. But cf. also 
A.S. swi/an, to move quickly, revolve, wander. 

SwiZZENED = shrivelled, wrinkled. Icel. szri^a, to singe, burn ; 
svi^a, burning ; svi^iftft, singed ; Dan. svide. See remarks 
on Swithen^s Thick, Chapter viii. ; also CI. Gl. swidden, swithen, 
swizzeji. Brogden, in his Provincialisms of Lincolnshire, gives 
sivither, to melt, which may perhaps also be connected with 
the Icelandic words given above. 

Tack = a peculiar taste or flavour (generally unpleasant). This 
may be connected with Icel. taka, which means to touch, come 
into contact with, as well as to take. But Mr. Atkinson would 
connect tdk or tdkt, a peculiar flavour, with O.E. tache, a 
peculiarity, a blemish. But cf. Skeat, Etym. Diet, taste. 

Taffle = to entangle. Perhaps this word may be connected with 
Dan. tafs, fafse, sb., tatter ; tafse op, vb., to feaze, to tatter ; 
Icel. tafsi, a shred. 

Tafflings = bits of thread which come off a woven fabric, when 
cut. See Taffle. 

Tag = a small portion of the mane of a draught horse, gathered 
together and plaited into a cord. Icel. taug, a string, a rope ; 
A.S. tedg, tige, a band, a tie ; Dan. ioug. This is perhaps 
a provincial use of the ordinary English tag, which, properly 
speaking, is the point of metal at the end of a lace, and which 
Prof. Skeat derives from Sw. tagg, a prickle, point, tooth ; 
Dan. tagg or tak. See tag, taggie, taggit (Jam.). 

Tak or Take = a lease of land. Icel. taka, tenure of land ; cf. 
also tak. 

Tang = the tongue of a buckle ; also the sting of any venomous 
animal. Icel. tangi (i) a spit of land projecting into the sea ; 

2 B 



370 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

(2) the pointed end by which a blade is driven into, and 
fastened to, the handle ; Dan. tange. See tang (Jam.). 

Tatched-end = a cord made of hemp, having a hog's bristle at 
the end, used for stitching leather. Icel. ydttr^ a single strand 
of a rope ; Norw. taat. Possibly, however, tatched may be the 
same as Scotch tatched, which Dr. Jam. takes to be the 
abbreviation of attached. 

Tave = (almost invariably used with tetving) ; tewing and tavhig'xs 
generally used to express the restless tossing of a sick person, 
etc. Tave is sometimes used absolutely in the sense of to 
storm, rage. There is no doubt that tewmg is the old English 
word tew or tazu, to work leather ; tawer, coriarius, teware 
Prompt. Parv. See Stratmann, and Skeat, Etym. Diet. The 
addition of tave may be an instance of tautology (cf raking 
and running), and may more strictly represent the Icel, fcpfa 
= ya^a, to beat, stamp cloth ; cf yo/, a beating or thickening 
of cloth, metaph., a wearisome, endless struggle. " pce/a i 
tumiu = to stamp in a tub, a curious custom, still used in Iceland, 
of two men lying upon their backs and treading a tub open at 
both ends, so as to pack the cloth tightly " (CI. and Vigf Diet.). 
The restless drawing up and down of the legs by a fever- 
patient is easily suggested from such a use of the word. Also 
cf f<T/a, sd., a stamping ; metaph., a long tedious struggle. 
Dan. toz'c, to loiter, represents Icel. yo'/a. See CI. Gl. tave. 
Jam. taax/ey see also Cr. D. " taves, spreads or kicks the limbs 
about, like a distracted person." 

Team = to pour out, empty ; also, to unload ; to team down = to 
pour (of rain). Icel. tcsnia, to empty ; cf tonir, empty ; Dan. 
tomme, to empty, drain. See team (CI. Gl.), teem (Jam.). In 
Annandale, to team and rain is a common phrase ; see also 
toom (Jam.). 

Ted = to rake up hay, seeds, corn, into small heaps. Icel. te^ja, 
to spread manure; so Norw. tedja, Sw. D. idda, and Icel. 
to'&H-verk, hay-making ; lit. ted-work. Teija is from ta^, 
dung ; ta^a — hay from the well-manured home-field (CI. and 
Vigf. Diet.). " I teede hey, I tourne it afore it is made into 
cockes " (Palsgrave). See Skeat, Etym. Diet. ted. 

Tems = a brewer's sieve. Cf Cleveland, " temsc, a sieve made of 
hair, used in dressing flour. Dan. D. tenis, tims, timse ; 
Sw. D. idmms, N. Fris. teins, M. Latin tatnisium, tela ex 



GLOSSARY. 371 

serico vel equinis jubis." See also Jam. teems, from Fr. tmnise, 
a strainer ; Teut. terns, temst, a sieve ; see also Grose's 
Glossary, tenise. 

Thack = (i) thatch ; (2) coarse grass growing on moors. Icel. 
pa>^, thatch; A.S. •^ccc, Dan. tag, roof; Dan. D. tag, long 
straw, rushes, etc., employed for thatching. Sw. D. tak, 
Anendfl pliragmiies. So in the Lincolnshire sea-marsh, thack 
is used of rushes and grasses growing in dykes (though never 
used now for thatching), and especially oi Arundo phragmites. 
The original meaning of the word was the straw, or reeds, used 
for roofing purposes. See CI. Gl. tag and thack, Jam. thack. 

Thacker = thatcher. See above, Thack. The word tJieaker was 
also used, perhaps is still, in some parts ; it certainly exists as 
a surname. Theaker agrees almost equally well with A.S. 
yeccan, and Icel. ^ekja, Dan. tcekke. Cf. Jam. thzek. 

Tharm = the colon or large bowel ; used of pigs' intestines washed 
and made into puddings. Icel. yarmr, the guts ; enda-yartur, 
the colon ; A.S. year/n. See thairm and terrem (Jam.). 
Terrem is the form of this word current in Shetland. 

Theat = close in texture. Icel. yettr, tight, close, heavy ; Dan. 
tcFt, dense, compact (exactly the Lincolnshire meaning of 
theat) ; so Sw. tiit, English tight, not found in A.S., and 
borrowed from Scandinavia. Tight should be thight, which is 
still found in provincial English, and also in the Orkneys. 
See Halliwell and Jam. 

Thoft = the transverse seat in an open boat. Icel. yopta, a 
rowing bench ; Dan. to/te, thwart ; cf Jam. t hafts. 

Thrave = a certain quantity of straw, threshed or unthreshed ; 
in Scotland, twenty-four sheaves of corn, including two stooks. 
Dan. trave, a score of sheaves ; Sw. D. trave, Icel. yrefi, a 
number of sheaves ; A.S. weaf or yraf is unauthorized (see 
Skeat, Etym. Diet.) ; cf Jam. thraif, thrave, CI. Gl. thrave, 
a shock or stook of corn, or twelve battens of straw. 

Throddy = active, vigorous, able to get through much work. 
Mr. Peacock (M. and C. Gl.) suggests Icel. yroask, to increase, 
grow, as the origin of this word. It may represent yrbttigr, 
powerful (from yroask) ; see also yrottr, strength (A.S. yroht, 
labour), and yrott-siiini, endurance. 

Throng = busy. The adjectival use of this word is confined to 
the dialects of North England and Scotland. The adjectival 



372 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

use is found also in the Scandinavian languages. I eel. 
or "pranfigr, narrow, close, tight, crowded ; Dan. trang, nar- 
row ; Sw. trdng. See throng {Q\. GL), ///rcr;/^'- (Jam.). 

Thrum, Three thrums, Thrumming = the purring of a cat. 
The Eng. word thrum, to play noisily, is from I eel. ^riima, 
to rattle, thunder ; Sw. trunnna, to beat, drum ; cf. Dan. 
tro7nme, drum. Loud purring has a sound suggestive of the 
rumbling of distant thunder or drums ; there can scarcely be 
a doubt that this peculiar use of thrum may be traced to Icel. 
riruma. Jam. thrum, to purr as a cat (Lanarks ) ; but he 
derives it from Sw. dranivm, mutum sonum edere. 

Thrum = the tufted part, beyond the tie at the end of the warp 
in weaving. Icel. ^romr, the edge or brim of a thing ; hence 
the edge of a warp ; Norw. trom, tram, trtunm. See Skeat, 
Etym. Diet, thrum. 

Thusker = one who does a thing with great energy ; Thusking 
= big. Cf Icel. ^roskr, vigorous, full grown ; 'proska-7fta^r, 
a vigorous person ; yroska-mikill, adj. of mickle manhood, 
vigorous (see CI. and Vigf Diet.). 

Thwack = to whack, beat. This use of the word is in accordance 
with that of Icel. yjokka, to thump, chastise. It is the same 
word, only used in a different sense, as A.S. yaccian, to touch ; 
M.E. yakke7t, to stroke. 

Tike, Tyke = a dog. Icel. tik, Sw. tik, a bitch. See CI. Gl. 
and Jam. 

Til = to. Icel. and Dan. til, to, towards. 

Tine = a prong, the branch of a deer's horn. Icel. teinn, a sprout, 
a twig (see M. and C. Gl.)- See also Jam. tynd, a deer's horn- 
sprout, but with a wrong derivation. 

Tine = a forfeit or fine in a game. Icel. tyjia, to lose (see M. 
and C. Gl.) ; cf. Jam. tine. 

Tip, Tippy = peak of a boy's or man's cap. Icel. typpi, apex. 

TovijSb. = two stones of wool ; vb., to weigh (only used of wool). Icel. 
toddi, a tod of wool ; " an almost obsolete word in Iceland, 
but preserved in the English tod of wool " (CI. and Vigf Diet ). 

Tod = dung, e.g. goose-tod, cow-tod. Icel. taZ, pi. to'f,, dung ; used 
in the same way as Lincolnshire todj hrossa-tai, satSar-taS. 

Tod = a fox ^ (obsolete). The fox is called tod from his bushy 

' Is tod, fox, the original of toad in the common proverb, '•' no more use 
than a side pocket to a toad?" AVhen it is remembered with what case 



GLOSSARY. 373 

tail, from O.E. tod^ a bush. Ger. zoite^ shag {zotte haar, 
shaggy hair), answers to Norse, /oddi. So Skcat, P^tym. Diet. 
iod. On the other hand, Jamieson derives the common 
Scotch word fod, fox (but doubtfully), from Icel. tcki (qs. tdfa?), 
a fox. Toa has lost a consonant, and it is uncertain which. 
Does our provincialism supply it .'' Formerly Scotch tod was 
spelt iode. 

TOD-LOWERY = a hobgoblin (Brogden and Halliwell). Although 
tod, fox, is obsolete in Lincolnshire, it still exists in this com- 
pound word, which is exactly identical with a Scotch pro- 
vincialism, meaningyi'.r. See tod, lowery (Jam.). 7"<?<:/and lowety 
both alike mean fox, but are often used together as a compound 
word. The Lincolnshire use of tod-lowery is a curious, but 
very natural departure from the original sense, as preserved in 
Scotland. Tod-loiuery has assumed in Holderness the strange 
form of Toni-loudy, a goblin conjured up to frighten children. 

Toft, Toftstead = a piece of land on which a cottage, having 
a common right, stands or has stood. Icel. topt (otherwise 
spelt ioiiit, tupf, toft, tuft; in mod. Icel. pron. tott), a green 
knoll, a grassy place, homestead ; Sw. toint, Norw. tuft, tomt 
Dan. toft. 

Trace = to wander aimlessly. See Jam. traik, t7'aich, Su. G. 
traka, cum difficultate ingredi ; Sw. traeka, cum molestia 
incedere. With this word t7'ace one is tempted to connect 
traffic, to walk about aimlessly, also to trespass ; or can this 
use of tf'ajjic be connected with Icel. tnr&ka, to trample on ? 

Trammock = (i) to walk about with unsettled purpose ; (2) to 
trespass upon other people's land. Icel. •^7-aviina, to lumber 
along, walk heavily ; cf. also Jam. tramsach, a long-legged 
creature ; lang trams, long legs ; from tram, the shaft of a 
cart ; O. Sw. tram, Icel. \ram, a beam, the original of our 
tram (see Skeat, Etym. Diet.). 

Trash-bags = a worthless person. Icel. trassi, a slovenly fellow ; 
trassa, to be sluttish. See also Icel. tros, rubbish ; Sw. D. 
tras has the meaning also of a "good-for-nothing." See CI. 
Gl., and Skeat, Etym. Diet. 

Trashle = a tiresome child. Possibly connected with Icel. tras- 
salegr, slovenly. 

the fox slings its prey over its back, it will be seen that the proverb will 
thus have some point ; cf. tode, the archaic form of tod in Scotland. 



374 LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Traun = to play truant. Cf. Jam. trane, to go from home, which 
he connects with Su. G. trena, incedere. Traim, however, 
may well be a corruption of O.E. irowafide, a truant ; Fr. 
truand. 

Tray = a hurdle. Perhaps from I eel. /n;«, gen. tra'&ar, pi. ira'Sir, 
(i) a piece of fallow grazing land ; (2) a pen for cattle. In 
Louth Churchwardens' accounts for 1505, this word is spelt 
traas^ which represents the existing pronunciation. There is 
an old Scotch trood, wood for fences, which may be connected 
with tro'&r^ faggot-wood, rather than tr'o'S. 

Treg = a worthless fellow. I eel. tregr^ slovenly, unwilling. The 
fact, however, that, in Scotland, we have tr-ag^ trash, also a 
person of mean character, and traik, the flesh of sheep that 
have died of disease, makes it possible that treg rather repre- 
sents I eel. yrekkr, filth. Or again, does ireg stand for dreg, 
I eel. dregg, dregs 1 

Trig = neat, tight, closely fitting. Icel. tryggr, faithful, true ; 
Dan. tryg, secure. In Scotland the word has the same sense 
as in Lincolnshire. In Cleveland, to trigg means to fill, to 
stuff; cf Lincolnshire trig, tight, e.g. " trig as a drum.'' See 
also Cr. D. trig, to fill (of eating). 

TUNDER = tinder. Icel. tiindr, O. Dan. timder, mod. Dan. 
tofider, A.S. tynder, M.E. tinder, tundre, tondre. Cf ijmdle- 
box (Jam.). 

Tup = a ram. O.E. tuppe, vervex (Stratmann) ; Sw. tiipp, cock ; 
Sw. D. topp. This is a parallel case to stag, which is from 
Icel. steggr, a he-bird (a meaning it still has in Lincolnshire, 
see Stag, Steg) ; and probably we may see the same associa- 
tion of ideas in tup as in stag; see the connection of stag 
with stiga (Skeat, Etym. Diet. stag). See CI. Gl. tup. 

Tutting = a peculiar kind of carouse, described by Brogden and 
Halliwell. We cannot be wrong in connecting this word with 
Scotch tout, toot, to drink copiously ; so toutle, tootle, to tipple ; 
tootie, a drunkard ; tout, a drinking match. This word Dr. 
Jam. connects with Icel. totia, to suck. But the derivation 
appears very doubtful. 

Ungain = inconvenient. See Gain ; and cf Icel. u-gagn, hurt ; 
I'l-gegn, unreasonable. 

Unheppen = awkward, unskilful. See Heppen ; and cf Icel. 
u-heppiligr., unlucky ; u-heppni, mischance. 



GLOSSARY. 375 

Until = unto or into. " I've been until him scores of times." 
"Chuck some more stoiins until her" (of a cart) (see M. and 
C. Gl.) ; cf. Dan. indtil, to, as far as. 
Uphoud, i.e. UPHOLD = to maintain (of a statement or argument). 
Dan. holde oppe, has the same force. So in Scotland tiphatid, 
and in Cleveland uphold. 
Wanded Chair = a chair made of wicker-work. Icel. vondr, 
a switch ; Dan. vaand. English wand is of Scand. origin, 
and represents Icel. vondr. 
Wap = a trembling, palpitation. See Jam. ivap, to flap ; Su. G. 

wippa, motitare se ; Icel. veifa, to wave, vibrate. 
War, Waur = worse. Icel. verr, Dan. vcerre. " I get war and 
war day by day " (M. and C. Gl.) ; cf. Dan. vcerre og vcerrc ; 
O.E. werre. See R. Morris, History of English Accidence, 
p. 46 ; and cf. Jam. war. 
Wark = to purge. Cf. belly-wark. Icel. verkja, to feel pain ; 

see Jam. wark, ache. 
Warp = any deposit of mud or soil through the action of water. 
Icel. verpa, to throw up, throw together ; cf. varpa, to throw ; 
t/rt:r/, a casting {e.g. egg-varp, a laying of eggs) ; varp-ski'ifla, a 
shovel. But the use of verpa is often closely analogous to that 
of our warp ; verpa hang., to cast up a cairn ; allt var sandi 
vorpit, all was wrapped in sand (see CI. and Vigf.). 
Wath, Wathstead = a ford. See Chapter ix. 
Wear = to spend, lay out (of money). Icel. verja (Eng. wear), to 
clothe, also means to invest, lay out (see CI. and Vigf. Diet.). 
See war, ware, Jam. 
Welted or weltered = overthrown (of sheep). See Far- 
weltered. 
Whaup = a curlew. See Jam. Quhaip, Quhaup, whaap, whaup, 
a curlew. This word Jam. connects with Sw. Kowipe, lap- 
wing ; Dan. vibe. But it may perhaps rather belong to A.S. 
hweop, wop, cry ; Icel. op. In this case whaup and yatip 
(to utter a loud cry), would be identical. Eng. yaup for 
Icel. op would be perfectly natural ; cf. ung, young ; ok, yoke. 
Whiffling = uncertain, changeable. Icel. vijl, hesitation ; cf. 

veifa, to vibrate. 
Whimsey = a whim (Brogden). Cf Dan. viinse, to whisk, to fuss ; 
vims, nimble ; Norw. kviinsa, Sw. D. hviinsa. For whimsey, 
see Skeat, Etym. Diet. whim. 



lyG LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE DANES. 

Whitter = to fret, complain. Icel. kvitta (iterative from kvef>a, 
to say), to rumour, noise abroad ; kvitir, a report, ^a;/o"a eptir 
kvititiJH, to go after tittle-tattle ; kvitt-samr^ slanderous. 
See Jam. quitter, whitter, to speak low and rapidly ; and, sb., 
loquacity, prattle ; whitter-whatter, trifling conversation ; 
also wither, to fret. 

WiME Round = to deceive (by flattery). Cf. Icel. hvima, to wander 
(of eyes) ; Norw. kvima, to whisk about, to trifle ; Dan. vimse. 
See Skeat, Etym.' Diet. whim. On the other hand, it maybe 
from A.S. czuei/ian. There is a Lincolnshire word wheamley, 
cunningly, deceitfully (Brogden), which certainly represents 
Cleveland whiinly, softly, gently, and which Mr. Atkinson 
derives from A.S. cweman, to satisfy, please. 

Wizened = withered, shrunken. Icel. wj-///;;, withered ; visna, to 
wither ; Dan. vissen, withered ; A.S. wis?iian, to wither ; M.E. 
wisenen. Professor Skeat derives wizen from A.S. wisnian, 
but the only two instances of the use of this word are Northum- 
brian, and he remarks that the word appears to be of Northern 
origin. See Jam. wisen, CI. Gl. wizseii. 

Wreck = weeds and other rubbish floating down streams or on 
ditch water. Cf. Icel. rek, something drifted ashore; Sw. vrak, 
wreck, trash ; Eng. wrack, a kind of sea-weed. 

Wykins = the corners of the mouth, and adjacent parts of the 
lower jaw ; also wikes (Brogden). Icel. T.nk (closely con- 
nected with vik, bay), the corners in the hair above the 
temple ; mitini-vik, the corners of the mouth (of a man) ; 
kjapt-vik, of a beast. See Jam. weik, week, a corner, angle ; 
" the weiks of the mouth." 

Yaffle, Yaffling = a noise between a bark and a whine. This 
is very likely only another form of zuaffle, wcjffle (same meaning 
2i?, yaffle), and which is from A.S. waflan, to babble ; a waffle- 
bags is a person who talks much and foolishly. Possibly, 
however, yaffle represents Icel. gjdlfra, to chatter ; Scotch 
yaff, means to prate, as well as to bark. 

Yammer = to clamour ; Yammer at = to scold. Icel. j'armr, 
bleating ; e.g. saic&a-jarmr, fugls-jarmr ; jar ma, to bleat ; 
Qex. jammer en, to complain; A.S. geomrian, to grieve. See 
yattiner (Jam.\ 

Yarm = a discordant or disagreeable sound (Brogden). Icel. 
jarmr, bleating. 



GLOSSARY. 377 

Yaup = to utter a loud or high note. This may be a provincial 
use of yelp ; so, Mr. Atkinson, yowp, and Mr. Peacock 
(M. and C. G\.),yaup. On the other hand, it may be referred 
to A.S. wop, Icel. op {see Whaup). Again, Professor Skeat 
identifies yaup with yap, which he derives from Icel. gjdlpa, 
to yelp. It may, however, be noticed that the idea conveyed 
hy yaup is much nearer to that contained in Icel. dp, A.S. ivop, 
Eng. whoop. The fact, however, that the avocet was formerly 
called yelpcr, and the curlew is now a whaup, favours identi- 
fication withj'^^. 



INDEX. 



Aby, 204 

Acthorpe, 226 

Addlethorpe, 73 

Ailby, 86 

Aisby, 78 

Akewra, 253 note 3 

Algarkirk, 89, 107 

Althorpe, 279 

Altoft End, 12 

Angotby, 78 note i 

Appleby, 234 

Arnaldgare, 238 

Asfordby, 279 

Asgarby, 78 

Ashby, 70 

Aslackby, 78 

Aslacoe (wapentake), 244 

Asserby, 78, 279 

Aswarby, 78 

Aswardby, 78 

Aswardhurn (wapentake), 136 note i, 

244 
Aswell, 78 
Audby, 279 
Audleby, 73 
Aunby, 279 
Aunsby, 279 
Austacre Wood, 129 
Auster Wood, 129 
Authorpe, 148 

Aveland (wapentake), 148, 249 
Axholme, Isle of, 206 



Axle-tree-hmn, 
Aylesby, 86 



136 note I 



B 



Bagghohne, 127 note 3 

Bagmoor, 127 note 3 

Barf, 174 

Barkwith, 228, 271 

Barnetby, 74 

Barnoldby, 74 

Bainsdale, 279 

Barrowby, 120 note 4 

Beckering, 201 

Beelsby, 69 

Beesby, 279 

Belleau, 204 

Belness, 192 

Beltoft, 143 note 3 

Belton, 143 note 3 

Benniworlh Haven, 197 note i 

Bigby, 227 

Bilsby, 68 

Birk Wood, 228 

Birkar, 229 

Biscathorpe, 107 

Bishopthorpe, 107 note 2 

Bleasby, 279 

Bloater Hill, 169 

Boby, 252 

Bole, 142 

Bolton, 143 note 3 

Bonby, 140 

Bonthorpe, 140 



38o 



INDEX. 



Boothby, 142 
Bosky Dike, 320 
Boston Deeps, 189 
Boswell, 156 
Bourne, 129 note i 
Bowthorpe, 2S0 
Braceby, 280 
Bradley Geers, 134 
Braithing Bridge, 280 
Brandy Wharf^2So 
Bransby, 2S0 
Branswell, 2S0 
Bratlands, 174 - 
Bratoft, 280 
Brattleby, 'j'i^ 
Brinkhill, 171 
Brocklesby, 69 
Brokenback Hill, 218 note 6 
Bromby, 172 
Brothertoft, 280 
Broxholme, 69, 218 
Bulby, 142 

Bully Hills, 119 note 2 
Burgh-upon-Bain, 153, 175 
Burgh-in-the-Marsh, 175 
Burton Goggles, 165 
Burwell, 280 
Buskhovvestrete, 250 
Butterwick, 142 



C 



Gadeby, 280 

Cadwell, 216 

Gaenby, 280 

Calceby, 206 note 4 

Galcethorpe, 206 

Galcewaith, 206 note 4 

Gandlesby, 281 

Candleshoe (wapentake), 244 

Canwick, 195 

Gardyke, 164 

Careby, 65 

Garholme, 164 

Carlby, 140 

Carlton, 140 

Gatchgarth, 12 

Gatta Furze, 217 

Gawthorpe, 281 



Gaythorpe, 12 

Ghapel Staith, 198 

Ghowder Ness, 192 

Clasket Gate, 281 

Glaxby, 281 

Glaxby Hoplands, 214 note 3 

Claxby Pluckacre, 281 

Glaypole, 143 

Clee Ness, 192 

Glixby, 282 

Cloven Hill, 182 

Coggleford, 165 note 3 

Coleby, 178 

Gollow, 178 note 3 

Coneysby, 104 

Goningsby, 104 

Conisby, 104 

Conisholme, 104 

Copper Hill, 181 

Goppledike, 153 

Corby, 164 

Cowbitt, 155 

Grackpool, 220 

Graiselound, 80 note 4 

Grakbeke, 254 

Crane End, 12 

Cringle Beck, 2ro 

Cringle Brook, 200 

Crosby, 108 

Croxby, 108 

Gulverthorpe, 74 note i 



D 



Dalderby, 132 
Danehill, 179 
Deepdale, 181 
Deeps, The, 189 
Denton, 139 
Derby, 210 
Dereby, 251 
Derrythorpe, 2IO 
Dexthorpe, 1S3 
Digby, 2S2 
Dogdyke, 208 
Dovendale, 217 
Dowsby, 282 
Driby, 183 



INDEX. 



;8i 



Dunker, io6 
Dunkirk, io6 
Dunsby, 282 
Durtness, 192 



Eagle, 86 

Eagre, 66 

Easthorpe, 130 

Eastoft, 130 

Egefeld, 251 

Ellabeck, 230 

Ellars, 230 

Elloe (wapentake), 248 

Elsthorpe, 86 

Enderby, Bag, 127 

Enderby, Mavis, 127, 270 

Enderby, Wood, 127 

Eresby, 219 note 2 

Ewerby, 163 note 3, 2S2 

Ewster, 144 



Fanthorpe, 282 
Farforth, 283 
Farholme, 283 
Farlesthorpe, 93 note 2 
Fenby, 157 
Fenthorpe, 13 
Feribay, 251 
Feriwra, 253 note 3 
Ferriby, South, 198 
Finkle Street, 13 
Firsby, 65, 96 
Fiskerton, 2S3 
Fifties, The, 191 
Flashmire, 195 
Pleet, 201 note i 
Flixborough, 112 
Fonaby, 283 
Fotherby, 159 
Friesthorpe, 65, 96 
Frieston, 97 
Friezeland, 65, 96 
Friskney, 96 
Fuglestorp, 255 
Fulbeck, 199 
Fulletby, 283 
Fulnetby, 283 
Fulstow, 255 note 6 



Gainstliorpe, 2S3 
Gander Hill, 81 
Garthorpe, 73 
Gartree (wapentake), 244 
Gate, 191 
Gatherums, 330 
Gatt Sand, 190 
Gaumer Hill, 179 
Gautby, 62 
Gayton-le-Marsh, 283 
Gayton-le-Wold, 283 
Giant's Hill, 81 
Gipples, 143 note 4 
Girsby, 2S3 
Gokewell, 283 
Gonerby, 62 
Gosberton, 107 
Goulceby, 284 
Goxhill Hallands, 174 
Graby, 233, 284 
Graftbe (wapentake), 245 
Grainsby, 62 
Grainthorpe, 42, 284 
Grasby, 232 
Grebby, 284 
Grecian Stairs, 2S1 
Grimblethorpe, 64 
Grimoldby, 64 
Grimsby, 63 
Grimsby Little, 63 
Grimsthorpe, 63 note 3, 284 
Grinklethorp, 238 
Gunby, 62 
Gunness, 62, 192 
Gunthorpe, 62 



H 

Habrongh, 173 

Hacconby, 87 
Haddington, 84 
Hagnaby, 87 
Hagworthingham, 2S4 
Hale, Great, 190 
Hale, Little, 190 
Hallgarth, 174 note 2 
Hall Hills, 174 note 2 



382 



INDEX. 



Halton Holegate, 165 

Hannah, 284 

Hanthorpe, 68 

Harmston, 67 

Hardwick, 2S4 

Hareby, 219 

Harpswell, 284 

Harrowby, 85 

Hartsholme, 210 

Hasthorpe, 284' 

Hatcliffe, 284 

Haugh, 113 

Haugham, 113, 270 

Haugham Reedings, 154 

Havelock Street, 87 

Haven, 196 

Haverholme, 233 

Haverstoe (wapentake), 88, 244 

Hawei'by, 88 

Hawthorpe, 88 note i 

Heckington, 285 

Hemingby, 86 

Hestcroft, 254 

Heydour, 222 

Heynings, 196 

Hilklike, 285 

Hiptoft, 12 

Hogsbeck, 113 

Hogsthorpe, 113 

Hotbeck, 166 

Hole, 242 

Holsterdale, 143 

Honey Holes, 87 

Honington, 87 

Hornby Wood, 135 

Horncastle, 136 note I 

Hough-on-the-Hill, 113 

Hougham, 113 

Househam, 224 

Houstorp, 252 

Huberdheythe, 91 note 3 

Hubbard's Hills, 91 

Hulvergate, 256 

Humberstone, 92 

Humble Car, 164 

Humby, 285 

Hundleby, 73 

Hungate, 13 

Hunger Hill, 92 

Hungerton, 93 note i 

Huttoft, 173 



Ingoldby, 85 
Ingoldmells, 85, 231 
Ingoldtoft, 85 
Irby-in-Marsh, 285 
Irby-on-H umber, 285 
Itterby, 126, 242 
Ivory, 13 



K 

Keadby, 222 
Keal, East, 170 
Keal, West, 170 
Keelby, 171 note 3 
Keisby, 2S5 
Kelby, 171 note 3, 206 
Kellwell, 205 
Kelstern, 229 
Kesteven, 146 
Ket Bank, 340 note i 
Ketsby, 77 
Kettlebottoms, 77 
Kettleby, 77 
Kettlethorpe, 77 
Kexby, 2S5 
Kingerby, 104 
Kingthorpe, 104 
Kirkby, 106 
Kirk by Laythorpe, 163 
Kirkstead, 285 
Kirmond-le-Mire, 162 
Knaith, 2S6 
Knock, 191 note 3 



Laceby, 286 

Langoe (wapentake), 245 
Langrick, 201 note 3 
Langworth, 105 
Lawress (wapentake), 245 
Leake, 202 
Leasingham, 141 
Legbourne, 247 
Legsby, 286 
Limber, 160 



INDEX. 



;83 



Linghow, 224 

Liquorpond Street, 202 note 5 

Lobthorpe, 286 

London, Little, 81 note i 

Londonthorpe, 80 

Longoboby, 252 

Lound, So 

Lusby, 2S6 

Lynn Deeps, 189 



M 



Mablethorpe, 242, 2S6 
Maggie Moor, 1S2 
Magin Moor, 182 
Maltby, 286 
Manby, 141 
Manthorpe, 141 
Mardike, 192 
Markby, 123 
Mavis Croft, 128 note : 
Medlam, 132 
Melton Ross, 132 
Mickleburg, 182 
Mickleholme, 182 
Mickle-How-Hill, 182 
Mickle-Meer-Hill, 182 
Mickley Wood, 182 
Micklow Hill, 182 
Miningsby, 184 
Monksthorpe, 286 
Moorby, 2 86 
Morkery Wood, 89 
Moss Wood, 286 
Mumby, 2S7 



N 

Nab, 181 

Nabs Hills, 170 note 2 

Navenby, 287 

Ness, 192 

Ness (wapentake), 193 

Newbig, 147 

Newbo, 252 

Newbold, 143 

Nob Hill, 170 

Normanby, 94 



Normandepe, 243 
Northorpe, 130 



O 



Obthorpe, 287 
Orby, 164 
Ormsby, 75, Si 
Osbournby, 74 
Osgodby, 78 
Otby, 287 
Owersby, 164 
Owniby, 61 
Oxcomb, 176 



Fade Hole, 221 
Fade Moor, 221 
Fode Hole, 221 



R 

Rack, 201 

Raiseland Hill, 80 note 4 
Raithby, 153 
Ranby, 178 
Rand, 178 note 2 
Rasen Drax, 183 
Rauceby, 287 
Ravendale, East, 77 
Ravendale, West, 77 
Raveneserodd, 238 
Ravensbrook, "]"] 
Ravensburg, 239 
Ravenscleugh, 77 
Ravenser, 238 
Ravensfleet, 77 
Raventhorpe, 70 
Reasby, 224 
Reeding Holt, 154 
Reedings Wood, 154 
Reston, 230 
Revesby, 287 
Riding, III 



Ridings Wood, 
Rigsby, 177 
Risby, 224 



154 



384 



INDEX. 



Riseholme, 224 
Ross Sand, 255 note 2 
Rothwell, 161 
Rough ton, 177 note 2 
Roxby, 219 
Roxholme, 219 
Ruckland, 219 
Ryggesthorpe, 251 



Saleby, 147 
Salkesthorpe, 242 
Salmonby, 287 
Saltfleet, 200, 242 
Saltfleetby, 201 
Sand Haile Flat, 190 
Sandness, 192 
Sausthorpe, 158 
Saxby, 96 
Scallow, 145 
Scalp, 13, 145 
Scamblesby, 287 
Scampton, 2S7 
Scartho, 2S8 
Scawby, 145, 270 
Scot Willoughby, 95 
Scotherne, 95, 229 
Scotland, 95 note 2 
Scotter, 95 

Scotterthorpe, 95 note 2, 145 
Scremby, 81 
Scrimthorpe, 81 
Scrivelsby, 82 
Scullar Wood, 213 
Scunthorpe, 288 
Scupholme, 288 
Searby, 1 61 
Sempringarth, 12 
Silk Willoughby, 2S8 
Sixhills, 130 
Skeggerbeck, 199 
Skegness, 192 
Skeldyke, 133 
Skellingthorpe, 86 
Skelmire, 133 
Skidbrook, 203 
Skinnand, 288 
Skinnybocke, 251 



Skirbeck, 136 
Skitter, 202 
Skitter Ness, 202 
Sleights, The, 185 
Slights Wood, 185 
Sloothby, 288 
Smaythorns, 229 
Snape Hill, 182 
Snarford, 288 
Snelland, 289 
Snitterby, 289 
Somerby, 103 
Somergangs, 158 
Somersl^y, 102 
Sort Hill, 223 
Sotby, 2S9 

Souter-hole, 158 note 5 
Southorpe, 130 
Southrey, 129 
Spanby, 289 
Spellow Hills, 117 
Spilsby, 117 
Springthorpe, 206 
Spurn Head, 241 note 3 
Stain, 167 
Stainby, 167 

Stainfield, 167 

Stainsby, 167 

Stainwell, 167 

Stainwith, 167 

Star Car, 231 

St at her, 197 

Steeping, Great, 145 

Steeping, Little, 145 

Steinithing, 248 

Stenfield, 167 

Stenigot, 134 

Stixwould, 148 

Stockwith, 289 

Stow, 277 

Straeng, 231 

Stragglethorpe, 133 

Streng, 231 

Strubby, 230 

Stubton, 155 

Surfleet, 201 note i 

Suscombs, 176 

Sutterby, 130 

Swallow, 200 note 4 

Swallow Beck, 200 

Swarby, 290 



INDEX. 



585 



Swaynesthoipe, 238 
Swin Wood, 214 note 4 
Swinderby, 130 
Swineshcad, 194 
Swincthoipe, 214 
Swinhope, 214 
Swinhope Brats, 174 
Swinstead, 214 note 4 
Swinthoipe, 214 
Swithen's Thick, 154 
Swyne, 242 
Syston, 177 



Tathwell, 150 
Tattershall, 147 
Tealby, 290 
Thealby, 73 

Theddlethorpe, 73 note 3 
Thimbleby, 247 
Thong Caistor, 293 
Thonock, 226 
Thoresby, 64 
Thoresthorpe, 64 
Thoresway, 79 
Thorganby, 64 
Thornton, 225 
Thorstanflet, 238 
Threckingham, 90 
Thrunscoe, 229 
Thurkleby, 238 
Thurlby, 64, 73 
Thurnedale, 229 
Thuttill Hill, 77 
Thwaite Hall, 144 note 2 
Timberland, 224 
Tonbarf, 145 
Torksey, 295 
Totelaund, 251 
Tothby {see Touthby) 
Tothill, 116 
Touthby, 149 
Towland, 233 
Tows, Great, 233 
Trent Ness, 192 
Treo (wapentake), 245 
Trusthorpe, 290 
Tumby, 144 



Tungatestone, 12 
Tupholme, 156 
Turky Nab Hill, 169 
Tyger Holt, 135 



U 



Ulceby, 72 
Upperthorpe, 91 
Usselby, 72 
Utterby, 126 



Vangarth, 150 



W 

Wainfleet, 201 note i 

Waithe, 204 

Walesby, 97 

Walkerith, 290 

Walmsgate, 75, 290 

Walshcroft, 97, 246 

Wapentake, 109 

Warden Hill, 180 

Wash, The, 188 

W^ashingborough, 207 

Wath, 204 

Weelsby, 63 note 2, 291 

Welfholme, 212 note 2 

Westby, 130 

Westhorpe, I30 

Westleby, loi 

Whisby, 79 

Wickenby, loi 

Wigford, 195 

Wigtoft, 194 

Wilksby, 03 

Willoughby, 63 

Wilsford, 63 note 2 

Wilsthorpe, 63 note 2 

Winceby, 291 

Winnibriggs (wapentake), 246 

Winthorpe, 291 

Withcall, 171 note 3, 206 note 4 

Withern, 79, 229 

Woodthorpe, 225 



386 



INDEX. 



Woolsthorpe, 73 
Worlaby, 73 
Wormegay, 75 
Wnies, 253 note 3 
Wragby, 212 
Wraggoe, 212 
Wragholme, 212 
Wramilna, 253 
Wianglands Dale, 186 
Wravvby, 212 



Wyham, 79 
Wyville, 79 



Yaddlethorpe, 73 
Yarborough, 1 19 
Yarlesgate, 105 
Yavvthorpe, 291 
Youlls, 291 



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